Close Encounters of the Furred Kind
by FurredSpaceLizard
Summary: A story about the DMV Pig, who apparently is the same pig as the prison guard at the end credits, based on how similar they look. Gets kind of sci-fi toward the end.


(Legal stuff: Zootopia and all characters therein copyright to disney used without permission. Please don't sue me. There I said the magic words. it's done. Basically..)

 **Close Encounter of the Furred Kind**

Prelude.

It was well known among the many colonies scattered throughout the labyrinth nebula that of the many dwindling and endangered races there was one in particular that was least respected. The monotreme like creatures known as amalgams were a tossed aside creature. This is because they are not a natural species. Their race was completely manufactured. Their makers having abandoned them long ago. The amalgams' fate were to be drifters, scavengers, and space hobo's in general. Many of the residents of the labyrinth nebula were much of the same, but at least they had the self worth of knowing they weren't an abandoned labor force engineered to be expendable. Because of this most of the time amalgams, though tolerated and for the most part accepted are often subject to much scorn and dislike for being someone else's left over trash that just so happens to walk and talk.

The irony in this is that none of the labyrinth nebula's residents were by any means upstanding law abiding citizens. The labyrinth nebula was a notorious hotbed of crime, gambling, drinking, prostitution and all other things ne're do well. It was aptly named, a massive cloud of dust, gas, and radiation riddled with tunnels, cavities and a multitude of places for scoundrels, pirates, and mercenaries to hide from the prying sensors of the various peace keeping organizations that worked in the area. Because the messy soup of matter that made up the nebula interfered with common navigational devices and could even corrode the hull of any vessel that ventured off the clear paths, it was a dangerous place to be for more than one reason. Even without all the lurking fiends the nature of the nebula itself was a place wise captains avoided. It was a graveyard of rotting ships and abandoned drifter colonies. It was where Rodrick Tull called home.

Rodrick "Roddy" was of course an amalgam. He grew up in an orphanage on a small trade colony in one of the upper most chambers of the nebula. This of course is not a very desirable childhood. Orphanages in the nebula are little more than meat factories. Any child unfortunate enough to be left at one has very little future to look forward to. They are subject to being harshly trained to either be a mercenary, free lance mechanic, pirate or adult entertainer. Depending on gender and how attractive they are. Most often the ones who aren't bartered for by some rogue or pimp end up being sold as food for what ever species thinks they might look like a tasty snack. Especially if they don't show any particularly useful aptitudes toward profitable skills. The lucky ones learn to take care of themselves, and jump ship to another colony. Others find work on their own as soon as they are old enough to work. If you could consider being a professional space criminal a job description.

Roddy didn't take long to pick up on this unfortunate fact. So from an early age he was quick to learn how to fight, fly a ship, and shoot a laser pistol. Among other necessities of self sufficiency. For the most part he showed promise as a potential pirate swabbie, having a range of skills useful to the trade. However that just wasn't his personality. He wasn't too keen on living a life of scars, and drunken stupors. Having escaped the fate of most orphans, Roddy spent much of his time as a scavenger. What time he didn't spend scouring the nebula for unclaimed derelict ships that he could scavenge parts from, he spend in the various colony bars, cantinas, and night clubs. Those are the places he grew up in, learning to barter, trade and deal, but mostly listening to the music.

He didn't want to be a feared pirate, or famed mercenary, and he definitely didn't want to be in the space police. If he did that he would have to deal with all these scoundrels even more than he did currently. He wanted to see his name painted in neon lights and on billboards. Preferably not because there was a sizable dead or alive reward on his head.

In fact he wanted to be a famous rock star. This of course was quite an odd dream for anyone in the nebula. Musicians were typically considered the least necessary part of society. Lazy dreamers who just want to play music in a bar somewhere weren't very useful to an economy largely driven by crime, and underhanded business practices. Even a space pirate who killed his own mother would get more respect. Roddy however wasn't planning on spending the rest of his life here in this seedy underbelly of space. He knew somewhere out there was a planet far away who had never heard of the lowly castaway amalgams. A place that valued artistic expression, even if it was a little loud and obnoxious. But isn't that how any good rock music is supposed to be?

However sometimes, life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid little dreams magically come true.

Chapter 1.

"Won't you take a ride on heavy metal. It's the only way that you can travel down that road. Satisfied on heavy metal. Baby won't you ride. Ride it until it explodes."

Roddy was typical for an amalgam. While genetically closer to a monotreme than reptile or mammal, that is because they were engineered by combining multiple unlike species. They have a reptilian skeletal structure giving them the look of a lizard even though they are covered in fur. Like most lesser species they are classified by their fur pattern and colors. So Roddy's hatch certificate labels him as a 'striped cobalt - indigo gold amalgam'. Meaning his base color is a dark stormy blue, with purple tiger like stripes which are outlined in a thin accent of bright yellow. He is tall and muscular with a tail that is roughly twice the length of his height. His bright purple eyes covered in welding goggles as he dangles halfway embedded in an engine housing that has been shoehorned onto a small vessel that it was never meant for. Sparks periodically flicker and fall out of the guts of the engine compartment.

His modest flat is little more than a hangar just barely large enough for his small ship. There was no bed, or furniture, just piles of parts, and other random pieces of old dusty outdated technology. His collection of things to sell or use to upgrade his small ship which was more his home than the rented hangar. Small of course would be relative considering it's roughly the length and weight of a fully loaded train car. It's a rather asymmetrical thing made from scavenged parts and doesn't seem to have any real start to finish plan in how it was thrown together. Of course he was more interested in function than aesthetics.

Suddenly there was a loud pounding at the thin and rusted roll up style door. It rattled as who ever was on the other side knocked with a vigor that would make you think they were trying to beat the door down. Roddy slipped out of the engine compartment and lifted his welding goggles while wiping a smear of grease on his nose with his tail. A gruff and gurgly voice bellowed from the other side of the door.

"Rodrick you lazy little shit, are you in there drunk?" it growled.

Roddy didn't answer instead he just made his way over to the door, and stepped down on a latch on the floor using his tail to pull the door up and open. It creaked and rattled as it rolled up on it's shaft hung above the door frame. There stood a quite typically cthulu looking alien rolling a cigar around in his tentacular mouth parts and staring unblinking with his six coal black eyes.

"You're supposed to be on stage! My customers are getting bored, and when they get bored they don't buy drinks. I'm not paying you to tinker around with that shit bucket you call a space ship. Get your shit together and get on stage!"

The large rotund green creature with the octopus like head and wrinkly skin barked as it rolled the cigar from one side of it's squid mouth to the other. Roddy grabbed his electric stringed noise maker and followed, pulling the door shut with his tail.

"You're starting to be more cost to me than you are profit you lazy shit." The creature continued to insult as it stomped down the hall.

"Your crowds have been getting smaller and smaller. It's costing me more to keep you in atmosphere and electricity than I'm getting from the pathetic bedlam show you put on every night. I think it's about time you considered a new arrangement." He lectured

Roddy rolled his eyes and thumbed his nose with his tail tip.

"Grollmat, Your sound system is fucked. Half of the amps are blown and the mixer board is a piece of junk. If you want me to sound better, then get better equipment." He retorted as he tuned his guitar while he followed.

The large smelly mollusk stopped and turned around so angry that he nearly pinched his cigar in half.

"You listen here you little punk shit! I've had it with you! They are broken because you are too damned loud! This is your last night here. I want you out of my station just as soon as your set is done. I don't want to see your ugly face anymore. You can settle up with my assistant after the show!" Grollmat gurgled in an in a rage tone throwing up his arms in disgust.

Grollmat then pointed down the fork in the hall leading to the bar, not saying anything else before storming off in the other direction. Roddy continued down the hall toward the stage. Grollmat wasn't the only one getting fed up. Roddy had been fed up since he began the new upgrades to his ship six months ago. At least now he had a, probably, working hyper drive and didn't have to pay jump gate fees anymore. At least if everything was going to play nice together once he booted it all up.

As far as ugly, well Grollmat was one to talk. Roddy had seen the rear end of giant blood sucking maggots that looked better than Grollmat. He wasn't even attractive by his own race's standards. Of course he knew what was coming next. By assistant Grollmat meant Blith, his head thug. Who was no doubt going to tell him how much credit he owed, and that he wanted it in cash, or blood. Knowing Blith he would prefer blood of course. That then meant Grollmat would have to pay someone to clean up the mess. Roddy had already made up his mind to skip the bill and cut out as soon as he had half a chance. He was ready to get out of the labyrinth nebula and find somewhere that his talents would be appreciated. He sure wasn't going to find that here. He had already heard the music that Grollmat finds appealing, and to Roddy it just sounded like two whales fucking.

After Roddy's set, she crept off the stage, and made his way back to the hangar flat. He had no intension of confronting Blith. It always went this way with these colony slum lords. No matter what you did, they always found some way to cook the numbers where you owed them in the end. Instead he went straight to his ship and begin to run a last minute preparations while he packed up his things. The capacitor bank was charged, and the other bits and pieces appeared to all be playing nicely together. He began to power up his main engines, and access the outer hangar door to leave, when red lights came on.

"Hangar access code inactive? What the hell?!" Roddy scowled reading the notifications on the screen.

Not long after the inner hangar door buckled and was forced open. Blith stood in the doorway with two other thugs. He was a rather intimidating looking creature, but Roddy was used to that. Blith had a sharp angular face ending in a chisel shaped chin. Two solid yellow eyes, and scale covered tendril like protuberances bundled behind his head. He was easily 480 pounds of solid muscle and bone plates. The other two thugs were lanky, tall, and spindly with three eyes and smooth pearly skin. Their heads were sharply crescent shaped curving from a sharp downward facing chin to an even more pointy rear facing tip. He recognized them instantly. They were protocaths. They were completely synthetic. Even though how they were designed could be mistaken for a living creature, they were not.

Both of the thugs tossed small hand held devices out onto the floor near either side of the ship and suddenly all of the electricity was drained from the start up capacitors. They moved into the room while sliding their three fingered hands into metal fighting gloves. Blith stepped in cracking the knuckles on each of his six fingered hands.

"Rodrick you worthless little leech. You wouldn't be thinking about leaving without settling up now would you?" He mocked.

At this point Roddy had no choice but exit his ship and make the confrontation. He had been in some pretty rough scraps before, but he wasn't too sure about this one. He saw that they were all armed with Delverin Mark 90 blasters hanging from their hips. Those were known to make quite a mess. Even a glancing shot could cut off a limb, and a direct shot, you're done for.

"Guys.. guys.. What's all the hassle? I figured I would let old Grollmat keep my last check and just cut out like he wants before I got him even more riled up. Why are you coming at me hard like this?" Roddy cooed trying to use flair to diffuse the situation. From the look on Blith's face it wasn't working.

"You have been costing my employer a lot more than you have been bringing in. Your pathetic last check doesn't even cover the interest. I'm here to make sure that you don't cut and run before it's all settled up." Blith scowled stepping forward.

Roddy sighed. "And let me guess. You're going to rough me up a little before you escort me off the station?" He smirked maneuvering himself over to a pedal he had installed on the floor.

Blith grinned as he began charging his blaster. "No.. I'm going to kill you and barter off everything you own to cover the loss." He mused.

Roddy reached up pulling his welding goggles down over his eyes. "Well in that case.. Why are we doing all this talking?" He replied stepping on the pedal.

Suddenly the lights in the room intensified a hundred times and began strobing in a disorienting random pattern. Blith growled and shielded his eyes with one hand and began firing in Roddy's last position but by that time he wasn't there. The two goons of course were immune, but Roddy planned on this. He ducked for cover as they began shooting.

What came next was a fast fire and cover style shoot out. He had everything planned each object he dodged to had conveniently been placed near one of the traps he had been preparing for months. Using the tegenda-32 kinetic pistol held by his tail for covering fire he rolled out from behind the pile of scrap ceramic armor sheets he conveniently placed ducking behind a rusted old engine block. With the Serrit multi phase photon pistol in his right hand he took a few pop shots at the devices on the floor that the thugs had thrown down to disable his ship's startup capacitors. One of them burst into a shower of smoke and sparks.

That's when things started going south. These thugs were better marksmen than he hoped they would be. They hadn't hit him yet but they had come too close for comfort. He could feel the blood soaking the fur on his arm from a piece of shrapnel. He wasn't trying to kill anyone today, and these two were made on an assembly line somewhere, none the less he still didn't feel good about doing it.

They must have seen his pattern and while one kept him pinned down the other dodged around the other side of the ship cutting Roddy off from his next bunker. All the while Blith was still howing about his eyes being on fire, However it wouldn't be much longer before the lights burned out from being over charged. Roddy had to think quick. He holstered his tegenda, and reached into his pocket pulling out his only stun grenade with his tail, and out of another pocket he grabbed a dummy grenade in his hand. He was saving the real one for after he had routed them all into one spot, but they weren't falling for it. Luckily for him stun grenades are lethal to protocaths. He threw the dummy grenade at the thug who was keeping him pinned down while at the same time quietly rolling the stun grenade right under him as he dove under a table for safety.

The stun grenade went off in a spherical field of crackling blue electrical energy. The unfortunate protocath never saw it coming, or got up from it. Black synthetic blood began to ooze out of it's mouth and eye sockets. The other thug was coming Roddy's way, blaster fire sparking off the floor. He rolled getting showered by sparks and bits of molten metal. Drawing his Tegenda in his other hand he let the protocath have it with both guns. It jumped and bucked as laser blasts and titanium darts peppered it's thin body. It fell to the floor a black puddle forming under it.

Roddy got to his feet and made a break for the hatch to his ship snatching up the other launch jamming device with his tail and smashing it against the wall as he ran. That's when the lights flickered one last time and went out. As his goggles adaptive lenses adjusted the first thing he saw was a huge fist. Blith landed a good solid hit right between his eyes. Roddy was knocked off his feet and rolled across the floor dropping both of his weapons.

He shook the dizziness out of his head and pushed himself up to his knees. Blith was there to help him to his feet in a less than friendly way. Roddy was snatched up off of the floor with two huge vice like hands around his neck. Blith held him up in the air shaking him a few times as he slowly tightened his grip.

"Those P-Caths cost me thirty seven thousand creds each! You little trouble making piss stain! I was just going to kill you, but now you're putting holes in my pocket! I'm going to do this... nice... and.. slow." Blith grunted as he choked Roddy.

Everything was starting to go blurry. Roddy's eyes danced around the room looking for anything he could grab with his tail. Just before passing out he saw it, an aerosol can of industrial degreaser and general purpose solvent. He quickly wrapped his prehensile tail around it shoving it right into Blith's face giving his eyes a substantial coating of the caustic liquid. Blith growled in pain dropping Roddy and grabbing his face.

"You little shit! I'm going to rip out your spine and roast your skull on a spike!" He howled grabbing at the air in between trying to rub his eyes. Roddy scampered on all fours across the floor, the open hatch of his ship being the light at the end of his dark tunnel. All the while Blith stomped after him blindly grabbing at the sound of Roddy's nails on the rusty metal floor. Almost there, he could hear Blith getting closer. Just a few more feet when he felt a hand on his tail. Next thing he knew he was bouncing off the wall and landing in a pile of cargo crates. Blith stood over him picking up the largest heaviest crate he could find. He stood poised to smash Roddy's head in with it. As Roddy looked up he saw his last hope for escape. Hung above Blith was a large chain hoist with a large metal pulley assembly that Roddy used to move heavy parts around the shop, and the remote control lay beside him. What luck that he had left the control right there on top of the stack of crates.

Roddy slammed his fist down on the release button and the hook, and pulley came dropping down right on top of Blith, followed by fifty feet of chain made from links the size of Roddy's wrist. He scrambled to his feet catching his breath as the last length of chain fell in a pile on top of Blith. He looked down just for a second. There wasn't any blood, but Blith was surely knocked cold. He didn't hesitate. Roddy limped into his ship and began the lift off sequence. His ship moaned and lurched upward. He opened the outer hangar doors and made a quick exit into the airlock which his little storage hangar flat was connected to. As the doors behind him began to shut he could see Blith getting up holding his head. Roddy knew he wouldn't have much time once he was out in space before Blith raised the alarm, and got to his own ship to pursue him. He wouldn't stand a chance against Blith's military surplus ship in this piece together flying scrapyard he was in.

The airlock doors seemed to be taking their sweet time spiraling apart. No sooner than they opened enough to let him through Roddy punched the main thrusters into full and blasted out into space trying to put as much room between him and that damned rats nest trade station as possible. He began priming the newly installed hyper drive system. Lights began to flicker behind him and an alarm came up on his heads up display. They had launched disruptor missiles at him? He didn't know the station had external weapons. He watched the range counter ticking down as his ships velocity went up. He had to be at a certain velocity before the hyperspace drive could operate. The missiles were closing in faster than his velocity gain. Frantically he drummed his secondary boosters trying to squeeze every bit of speed out of his ship as he could. All the while the blips on his screen crept closer and closer to impact.

Blith watched the blurry scene out the portal as the lights from the missile's thrusters got closer and closer to the tiny speck that was Roddy's ship in the distance. Suddenly he watched them explode in a display of light and bubbling fire. When the dust cleared Roddy's ship was no where to be seen aside from a scattering if debris.

"That'll teach you to try to burn my eyes out, you little bastard." He laughed.

Chapter 2

"Just come out and say it. Spit the words out of your mouth. It needs no explaining. Cause we both felt it go south. Just stop kicking my heart around."

Patricia Wilbur stood by the cell block door watching the clock's agonizing crawl toward 8 P.m. She had an uneasy feeling deep inside since her lunch break when her boyfriend usually calls to check up on her. Things between her and Herman hadn't been so well lately. To be honest she wasn't sure if it was her or him. Either way she had been through break-ups before and she could tell by the tone of his voice he felt like letting go.

The inmates came shuffling back from their evening meal, and went into the recreational room for their final hour of free time before going back to their cells for lights out. She stood by the TV as usual to keep any fights from breaking out over what channel to watch. The last hour of their free time went fairly blandly. They watched the news, at least the ones who paid attention. The others either lifted weights in the back of the room, or played checkars off to the side. Then it was time for them to all go back to their cells.

Patricia along with the other guards went down the block shutting all the cell doors making sure they were securely locked. It was almost time for lights out, and the night shift guard would be coming to relieve her of her post soon. She wasn't looking forward to dinner with Herman tonight, not if it meant what that sinking feeling she had deep in her stomach was telling her.

Deep down she knew they were just too different. Even though on the outside she tried to be this other person, like a mask she wore. But pigs were supposed to be boring foodies. The kind of people who take pictures of their dinner, and know all the best restaurants. They dress in boring clothes from Urban Snoutfitters and listen to boring music. She tried to be that, but here on the inside she had to be tough, she had to be serious. Her job meant she had to deal with criminals and just do her job without getting personal.

Of course she knew how to take care of herself. She was the only girl with seven older brothers. Standing up for herself was the first thing she learned. What's more, after a while she began to like it. But in her family, especially being the only girl, she had a hard time being a tomboy. "I already have seven boys to deal with, I don't need my daughter acting like one too" her mother would always say.

So she tried to be a lady, and for the most part she didn't mind, even though she still liked boxing, MMA, beer and football. She listened to hard rock music, and liked spicy food. That was the type of person she could be around the rest of her police friends. But around her family, and around her boyfriend she was expected to be a lady.

As for Herman, he was a polar opposite. He liked classical music and was in a chess club. He dressed in boring sweater vests, and starched collar dress shirts. He taught economics 101 at Zootopia University. Everything about him was stable, sensible, and boring. Just the type of man Patricia's mother approved of. He was financially stable and from an affluent family. He even had a rich sounding name. Herman P. Hamilton III. Patricia always thought it sounded so stuffy.

It wasn't that she didn't care about him, even love him. He was like her anchor to a different world than the rough sleazy one she saw every day at work. A world of sunshine and picket fences. A world she wished that she could have. Inside her though there was this nagging need for excitement, a need to be a little dirty, a little tough. A little bit of everything that the average boring pig wasn't. That of course was why she became a police officer. Though, after it was pretty clear that she could never be on the swat team known as the Razorbacks she settled on the next most dangerous position. A prison guard. Most street cops only had to deal with hardened criminals once in a while. But she had to deal with them every day. She loved the excitement. At the same time she found a feeling of pride knowing that on her watch there usually wasn't trouble. She had mastered the art of the cold steely stare pretty early on and so most of the time that intimidating "just try it buddy" look usually did the trick. When it didn't she also boxed top of her weight class in college and was a black belt in oinkido.

Finally the buzzer sounded, and the door to the cell block opened. A new group of guards came shuffling in each going to their post to relieve someone of their position. Henry came walking her way. She didn't like him much, he was kind of a goof. Then hippos weren't known for being smart.

"Hello Patty, anything interesting tonight?" He asked trying to make idle conversation.

She didn't have time for small talk, and besides she hated being called Patty. She just shrugged and shook her head.

"No, it's been a quiet afternoon. There was a small argument over the channel on the TV in the break room, but it didn't come to anything. " She replied trying not to sound too dry.

"Oh.. I guess that's good. You know when that happens to me. I just turn on reruns of Gazelle concerts and everyone quiets down." He nodded.

Patricia looked down and then back up again. "Anyway. I have some things to do tonight, so I don't have time to talk. Have a good night Henry." She said trying to end the conversation quickly before hurrying herself out of the door, to clock out, and then change before meeting Herman at the restaurant. She didn't even have time to put on make up or fix her hair.

Patricia pulled up to the valet parking, already ten minutes late. She gave a sigh, getting out of her car and giving the attendant her keys. She never meant to hurt Herman or string him along. The boring stability he contrasted her life on the inside with was pleasing at first. It was like a little vacation every time they spent an afternoon or day off doing mundane things. Ordinary things like going to a movie or walking through the part. Patricia didn't even understand herself sometimes. This is what everyone else did, why did it slowly start to feel like a pair of concrete shoes?

She walked inside fixing the neckline of her pink floral pattern sun dress. She really hated pink. She would much rather be wearing a cool color. She liked the dark blue of her guard uniform. Herman didn't. He always complained when she wore dark colors. He said it made her look depressed. Herman was already waiting, with a very impatient and disappointed look on his face. Patricia quietly sat down, fidgeting with her dress for a moment before she finally looked up.

"Sorry I'm late Herman. I had to change, and then there was a lot of traffic. I promise I'll be on time next time." She said quietly. She really did honestly feel bad about it, and there was no reason to jump to conclusions and assume Herman was about to break up with her. Even though right now that's how it felt.

Herman rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Eh.. yeah.. Don't worry about it. I know how it is sometimes. Uhm.. so.. shall I get the waiter? Or are you not having your usual tonight?" He said with a slight stutter in his voice as if he was scared to cut to the chase himself.

Patricia shook her head. "No we always get the same thing when we come here. Why change now right?" She said with a tired voice. The fact is it was tiring. Herman was like a sensible safe boring old man, even though like her, he wasn't even 35 yet. Since their first time coming here he never looked at the menu. He always got the same thing. She had asked before why he never tried anything else on the menu and he just shrugged and replied that it was the only thing he liked here.

Herman flagged down the waiter. The young deer came over holding his note pad. He was dressed in the typical upscale waiter's outfit.

"Yes sir are you ready to order?" He asked politely as Herman reached over for Patricia's menu. "Yes I'll have the blackened halibut with the sweet potato chutney and a side of steamed asparagus." Herman replied. "

"Yes sir and for the lady?" The waiter asked as he wrote the first order down.

"Oh, yes she will be having the cajun fire grilled lobster, with arugula beet salad." He added handing the waiter the menus.

"And would Sir like to see the wine list tonight?" The waiter finished as he wrote the second order down.

"That won't be necessary. Just two sparkling waters with a lemon wedge." Herman answered shaking his head. The waiter nodded. "Yes sir, I will be right out with your sparkling waters." He said putting the menus in his apron pocket and hurrying off to the kitchen to deliver the order to the chef.

Patricia idly looked down at the place mat on the table, then over at the dinnerware set neatly laid out beside the napkin folded to look like a swan. No wine tonight? He always ordered wine. What was going on here? Not that she needed an answer. She already knew. She had felt this conversation coming more than once in the past months. After a few glasses of wine the gloom lifted and Herman would be going on about a book he was reading, chess or some new piece of music he had heard. Maybe that was it. He didn't want to loosen up and just forget about it this time. Was this really it. He really is breaking up her. She was so lost in though that she didn't even notice him staring at her.

"Patricia you look worried dear? Are you ok? Was there a riot at work or something tonight?" He asked seeming genuinely concerned. That was so sweet of him, that he actually cared despite sitting there trying to work up the nerve to dump her in the most polite and gentlemanly way. On the other hand, it was a little insulting. How could he sit there and pretend to care when he was about to break her heart. More importantly why was she so mad at him when deep down she knew she kinda wanted him to break up with her.

Patricia shook her head. "No, I'm ok. It's nothing like that. I was up a little too late last night so I'm just tired." She replied. She looked up at Herman who genuinely looked worried, as if he realized this might not be the right time to do this. Or maybe it's because he realized Patricia had seen it coming.

"Oh, good. You know I worry about you in there with all those savage criminals. Anything could happen. I don't know why you just won't request a safe, quiet, sensible desk job." Herman exposed sipping the flat water that was already on the table when Patricia sat down.

She sighed. He was going to start on this again. An old tired conversation she didn't want to hear anymore. He had been pressuring her to transfer to a "Safe" and "sensible" desk job since they had began dating two years ago. She didn't want to be stuck chained to a desk shuffling boring report papers from in-box to out-box. She didn't want sensible and safe. She liked her job. She liked feeling like she was there to protect the ones who were just in prison on a misunderstanding, or minor non violent charge from the real criminal thugs. She liked putting those thugs back in line when they tried to get rowdy. She liked hearing the stories from the other guards. She liked the excitement, and the empowerment of being in authority.

"Herman.. Please not this again. I really just want to have a nice quiet dinner without getting into debate. You know I couldn't stand being behind a desk." Patricia sighed with an exhausted tone turning her eyes away in disappointment. Was this how he was really going to approach this? She was hoping for the "it's not you, it's me." cliché. That would be a lot easier to swallow.

"Oh,, no I'm sorry.. I didn't mean it that way. I don't want to argue either." Herman fumbled. "It's just.. I don't know. You feel really distant, you have for some time now. I really think your job is getting to you. Being around criminals all the time. You've forgotten how to be around normal people. It's like you've forgotten how to see the good side of the world."

"Herman... I told you I really don't want to talk about it. Or at least wait until after dinner since I'm paying for it anyway?" Patricia replied in an irritated tone. The truth was she did want to talk about it. She wanted to get it all said and done, but to break up like this, over dinner in a crowded restarunt where everyone could stare at them was just so embarrassing.

It was clear Herman didn't like hearing that. It just may have been the first time in two years Patricia had actually seen him angry. He grabbed the folded napkin roughly flapping it out and putting it on his lap, as the waiter came and brought the sparkling waters. For a moment he was quiet, at least he waited for the waiter to leave.

"You know that really irritates me. I think I have been pretty patient these past two years. But every time I bring up something that concerns me, you just get defensive and clam up. I just don't get it. Some days you're happy, and interested, and some days you as expressive as a rock. It's like I'm dating two completely different people." He snorted, almost harshly.

Patricia's eyes narrowed, and her snout crinkled. He could have said anything to her but that. Bringing up what irritates him like he's so perfect. As if she is the only one who has a few things to change.

"It's funny you should say that Herman.. Since we're talking about things that irritates us. You know what really irritates me? For two years every time we go out, you always want to pay dutch. And then when we have these lovely little conversations. I loose my appetite. You know sometimes a girl wants to feel treated. She wants the man to pick up the check. The WHOLE check Herman. You say it makes things cheaper on both of us, but the truth is it's only cheaper on you because I'm paying for an expensive dinner I don't even get to enjoy." She growled.

Herman looked shocked. He had never seen that prison stare of hers. Honestly he didn't know it was even in her personality. He couldn't appreciate how hard she had tried over these two years to to not get angry at him. He had no idea what a stick in the mud she thought he was.

"Patricia! I can't believe you just said that to me. Is that how you really feel? Do you really think of me as an old scrooge? How could you think that? I've bought you some really nice things? What about those pearl ear rings I got you for Christmas last year? I saved a very long time for those. What have you gotten me? I tie here and there?" He snapped back.

"Oh really? What about the alabaster chess set I got you for your birthday? Do you think that was some dime store piece of junk? It came from Sowthebie's for crying out loud. It cost me two months pay!" Patricia returned fire.

Herman shook his head. He gave a harsh sigh and sipped his water. He hated these kinds of conversations. If she could just be more like him this wouldn't be happening. At least that's what he wanted. Never considering if it was what she wanted. She didn't seem like this at first. She would play chess with him, horribly but it was the effort that counted. More and more lately she would rather spend the night out with her cop friends at a bar, or home watching a boxing match. He didn't have anything against sports, sure it wasn't his thing, but why did it have to be something so violent?

The truth is she really wasn't even the type of pig he would normally meet. He just didn't do the types of things she did. Aside from teaching and lecturing he also did some financial consulting for a small firm. He had helped Patricia's mother with some retirement planning, and met Patricia one afternoon while over at her mother's house going over some investment options. She seemed so different then. Really it was her mother who put the pressure on for them to go out. Of course maybe everyone is different around our parents. Well, actually Herman wasn't. He was the same old boring Herman all the time.

Patricia just glared at him for a moment. The waiter was coming back with their meal, but by now she didn't even feel like eating. How could he expect her to be the one to change when he's so boring sometimes that she would rather just watch static on an old T.V with the cable unplugged. These dinners they had, when they were actually getting along, were the only fun thing they ever did. His idea of an enjoyable night would be sitting quietly at the table reading the same book. Not to each other out loud. Two copies of the same book, each reading at their own pace in silence. The only conversation being the occasional "what page are you on?". Then save all the conversation for dinner a week later when he wanted to talk about all the in's and out's of the literary breakdown, and just pick it apart like a college professor. Of course that's what he was, but why not just talk about weather or not you liked the book instead of grading it like one of his student's essays. The one time she did talk him into going out to a bar with her, he just sat off to the side while she watched a football game, and shot pool. He didn't even drink a draft beer with her. As if beer was below his social status. He always had to have a mid-range wine with good reviews. Sometimes he could be such a snob.

"Look, Patricia... Let's be honest with ourselves.. This isn't about the money." He began after the waiter had left. He started eating as if none of this was bothering him at all.

"I just think we are growing apart. Or maybe we are just two completely different pigs, and we were never all that much alike to begin with." He explained in between bites.

Patricia didn't even start eating. She just glared with a fowl expression on her face while listening. At least they were at the part she had been waiting for since she sat down this afternoon. The part where he tells her that they are drifting apart, and maybe it's time to let go and stop trying to make this work. But they can always still be friends. Yeah right.

"To be frankly honest with you, I have no idea how we lasted this long. It's clear that you are just not in the same class that I am. You just don't appreciate the finer, more refined things in life. Or have the self respect to stay out of smoke filled booze gardens playing pool and watching football like you're a man. If that is what makes you happy, then so be it. But I'm just not satisfied settling for things so common."

Herman almost sounded calm as he insulted her directly to her face. Yet she could pick up that subtle condescending tone in his voice. He really did think he was better than her, and now he wasn't even hiding it. Patricia felt her blood beginning to boil. Most people would not have gotten away with that.

Patricia's eyes narrowed even more, her brow wrinkling. But she promised herself she wasn't going to snap and make a scene in such a gentrified high class place. By now that would only show her true colors. Not that she was ashamed of who she was. But that's what he wanted, so he could look like the big man with restraint, while she made a fool of herself.

"Really? I mean.. REALLY?! You just said that to me!? You think I'm not smart enough to tell you're just going the long way around calling me trashy? As if I can't figure it out?" She snorted standing up abruptly almost knocking her chair over.

"You know sometimes you can be such a pompous ass. You go around with your snout in the air like you're so much better than us "Common" people just because you have three degrees and a doctorate." She berated even putting the little finger quotes in the air when she said the word common.

"Let me tell you something Herman. You're not any better than the rest of us. No one is any better than anyone else. All you are is an arrogant, self righteous, BORING elitist jerk!" She snapped. Giving him her evilest look. Herman just sat there eating with this unimpressed smirk on his face, as if he was winning because Patricia was the one making the scene while he had the luxury of bowing out gracefully.

"And you know the truth.. I knew this was coming since the phone call this afternoon. Actually a lot longer than that. I was just going to let you say what you had to say and not make a scene. But you just sat there and told me that I'm low class. I'm not a refined enough graceful lady. You basically just used big words to call me street trash!" She let it all out, as she picked up her plate.

"I'm done with you making me feel like I'm just not good enough. Not rich enough, not classy enough, or what ever else you can find wrong with me! Well I hope you're hungry, because tonight you're eating dinner for TWO!" She shouted as she gave Henry a face full of grilled lobster making sure to grind the plate against his snout nice and hard before she stormed out.

Well... so much for not snapping...

Chapter 3

"Strange shapes light up the night. Never seen then though I hope I might. Don't ask if they are real. The men in black, their lips are sealed."

Normally on nights like this Patricia would call up her friend from the academy Barbara Rosettes, and have a girls night out. A drink and couple games of pool. Tonight though she just felt so drained. She had fed her dinner to Herman's forehead which was slightly satisfying, but still didn't give her appetite back.

Patricia arrived home putting the key to her apartment door and turning the knob. She pushed the door shut behind her without looking back, kicking her shoes off as she walked across the room and finally letting herself collapse into her recliner with an exhausted sigh. She turned on the news just for background noise with the intent of dozing off. A little nap would be nice before waking up for a midnight snack of leftovers before actually dragging herself to bed.

For a moment it was the same old same old. Stock market, reports, the weather, and then the sports section, what she was waiting for. She was interested in knowing how her team was doing in the playoffs.

"And now here's Bobcat Costas with the sports." Peter Moosebridge announced. However before can pan over to the sports cast booth, his co-anchor puts her paw up holding the other over her ear bud.

"Just one moment Peter. I am being told we have breaking news from the rain forest district. We are going there live to our reporter on the scene to give you this breaking special report." Growly announced just before the scene changes to a leopard in a charcoal gray suit holding a microphone while standing on a bridge. Off in the distance the dark inky night of the jungle is a glow with orange and red.

"Good Evening Peter, Good Evening Fabienne. This is Leopold Rathers coming to you live from Tujunga tonight, where you can see behind me the jungle is a blaze." He began.

Patricia sat up. The jungle was on fire? But that's where Barbara lives. What happened? Was anyone hurt? The questions rattled through her mind as she suddenly became more interested in the news than she had ever been.

"The cause of the fire isn't entirely clear but the Zootopia fire department is on the scene, and requesting aid from any and all local departments to get the four alarm inferno under control. So far no fatalities have been reported, though several tigers, panthers, jaguars and sloths have been evacuated from their homes as the fire spreads closer to rural neighborhoods." He explained as the camera panned and then zoomed in on the distant forest fire.

"Sources claim that there was a large explosion in the remote outskirts of the jungle district just mere minutes ago. The source of the explosion is still officially a mystery but at least one local witness claims to have seen a large fireball falling from the sky and crashing through the trees just moments before the explosion. " The reporter explains as the camera pans and zooms again back to focus on the anchor, this time beside him is a rather old gray muzzled tiger leaning on a cane.

"We have with us here local resident and amateur astronomer, Mr. Strypes an elderly tiger who was on his back deck looking through his telescope then the event took place. Mr Strypes could you tell our viewers what you saw?" Leopold requested putting the microphone closer to the old tiger who looked rather shaken up and excited.

"Yes sir! I'll tell you. I'll tell you just what I saw. I was out looking through my telescope trying because you're supposed to be able to see a clear shot of Jupiter's moon Ganymede eclipse it's other moon Europa against the star Sirius. And that's when I heard the most awful sound. It was like a swarm of bees shooting a flamethrower! When I looked out from behind my telescope A huge green object came whizzing by right over my head on fire. It shot straight ahead, turned right and went down through the trees over there where the fire is at. Then KABOOM! It was like a bomb went off! That's when the fire started." The old tiger explained in an excited hysteria.

Leopold momentarily brought the microphone back over to himself. "And could you describe this object? Was it a large meteor?" then pushed the microphone back in front of the tiger.

"If it were a meteor it's the damndest one I ever saw. It had lights flickering on it, and the front was lit up, like it was covered in windows or something that were lit from inside. Besides meteors don't just change direction like that! You know what I think it was? Some sort of aircraft. Probably some secret military project those reptiles are working on over there on their side of the world. What do they call that place Reptropolis? You know they're pretty crafty for being cold blooded. Yes siree! That's exactly what it looked like. Some sort of strange looking aircraft on fire, go crashing into the jungle." The tiger said with certainty as if his mind was already made up.

The field reporter gave a slight chuckle. "Well.. there you have it. At least one witness thinks it was... something not natural. Meanwhile the fire department will be working frantically over night to control the flames. I am sure as soon as the flames are out a full investigation will be under way to find out the real cause of these tragic events." This is Leopold Rathers on location. Back to you Peter.

Patricia blinked unable to believe her ears. It couldn't be. She refused to believe it. After all who would trust the ramblings of some senile old space nut tiger living out in the boondocks of the jungle district. Besides that wasn't what was important. She quickly jumped up running over to the bar style counter that divided the kitchenette from the living area of her mid-sized apartment and grabbed her purse. She hurriedly unzipped it pulling out her phone, in such a hurry to dial Barbara's number that she dropped her purse spilling it's contents onto the floor. The phone connected and she waited with a worried feeling as it rang, and rang. It seemed like an eternity but in reality it was only three or four rings before Barbara answered.

"Patricia! Did you see the news?" The female jaguar on the other end of the phone asked.

"Oh my gosh! Barb! I did! Are you ok?" She returned with alarm.

"Oh yeah. It's way on the other end of Tujunga from me, But wow it's some fire. I'm looking at it from the window through my binoculars. The flames are way up above the trees. I really hope they can get it under control before the whole jungle burns to the ground" Barbara explained.

Patricia gave a sigh of relief. "Ohh thank goodness. Listen Barbara if things get too bad you pack up your stuff and come stay with me. I'll just sleep on the couch and you can take my room." She offered in a concerned tone.

"Ohh.. nonsense Patricia.. I'm sure ZFD will have it under control by morning. You can see all the lights from them dumping water on it from the tanker planes. There's nothing to worry about. Besides it's miles and miles away." Barbara mewed trying to calm her friend down.

"Are you sure? I mean, the offer still stands. If things aren't better by tomorrow morning you can come stay with me.. instead of paying for a hotel room. I really don't mind sleeping on the couch. It's a big couch." Patricia offered again, really hoping Barbara would take her up on it.

"No.. No.. I'll be fine.." Barbara assured, then quickly changed the subject. "So what are they saying on the news? I didn't really get to hear much of it over the sound of tanker planes flying overhead. Besides I have a better view from my window." She asked excitedly.

"Oh.. I don't know, they aren't really sure what happened. They said there was some kind of explosion. And then they interviewed some nutty old guy who said he saw a big green aircraft with lights and stuff fly over his house on fire, and that's what made the explosion when it crashed in the jungle." She sort of chuckled at the absurdity of it.

"You didn't see anything like that did you?" Patricia then asked just to be sure. Barbara paused on the line then slowly responded.

"Uhhmm... nooo. I don't think I saw anything.. quite like that.." She started in an almost nervious tone. "But I did hear the explosion. Cheese and crackers it was loud! It rattled the windows so hard I thought they were going to break, and it even made a few car alarms go off. I bet it even did bust some windows closer to ground zero." She then redirected excitedly.

"I mean have you ever heard the sonic boom when one of those jets go over head at the air show? Well it was like that except ten times louder. It was like a that video of the rocket fuel manufacturing plant exploding on Zootopia's wildest home videos!" She exclaimed.

Patricia was finally calm enough to sit down. It's nice at least that Barbara was taking this so well. Especially when it was her home town that was going up like a powder keg.

"Yeah.. I remember that.. I bet it was really something. Thank goodness no one was hurt. I mean at least.. I hope no one was hurt.. Or gets hurt. I mean I really hope they get it under control so the mayor doesn't have to declare a state of emergency." She said.

Truth is she really hoped Barbara would come stay with her for a little while. In all honesty she was pretty hurt inside over Herman breaking up with her like that. Making her loose her temper and make a complete ass out of herself in front of everyone. She'll never be able to show her face in that restaurant again. Which was a shame, their cajun grilled lobster was really good.

She just didn't want to be alone right now, even if it was just a friend coming over. She had been with Herman for two years, and it really wasn't all that bad. She didn't like his snooty attitude most of the time. And even though she mostly started dating him to get her mother to lay off, after time he began to grow on her. He wasn't always like he was tonight. Patricia let out a sight. For a moment she was so lost in thought she didn't even hear Barbara going on about the fire, only bits and pieces coming through.

"Oh they just turned on the artificial rain system I bet that will have it out by morning"

"Barbie... Uhm.. listen.. I have something to tell you.." Patricia said in a quiet sober tone cutting Barbara off..

"Yeah? What's up?" She said pausing her exposed rambling.

Patricia gave a pause, there was no real delicate way to say it so she just came out with it.

"Herman broke up with me tonight over dinner." She blurted.

"Ohh.. Patricia.. sweetheart.. I'm so sorry.. you guys had been going out for what two years now? I hope he was at least a gentleman and let you down easy.." Barbara comforted.

Patricia shook her head just out of natural reaction as she answered. "No.. No he didn't. In fact he was a real asshole. He said I wasn't in his class.. and that I wasn't ladylike enough.. He basically called me a piece of bar trash who wasn't good enough for someone of his social status. So I threw a plate of cajun lobster in his face.. it was a mess I really lost it.."

She could hear Barbara gasp in shock. "OH sweetheart.. I can't believe that. He always seemed like such a gentleman. Do you think it's because there's another woman?" She questioned.

"I really don't know.. Things have kind of been on the rocks lately to begin with, and I've been coming home after work, or going out with you and the guys instead on seeing him.. So.. I don't know. If there was I would probably never know. Oh gosh I hope it's not that.. Now that I say it that way it sounds like it's my fault." Patricia gasped in sudden realization of how she played a part in things going sour.

"No.. Patricia don't say that. You are a good person. And you have an important job. Don't ever let anyone put you down for who you are. I mean.. I never wanted to say anything but he always did seem a little stuck up.. He just wasn't right for you. It's good that you got out before you got trapped in a marrage you couldn't stand." Barbara soothed.

"You do have a point here.. And you know I'm not sure if I really miss him, or just miss having someone.. Right now I just don't even know. I'm still in shock at how rude he was. It was like he was enjoying it." Patricia sighed plopping back down in her leather recliner.

"That is so low.. Oh sweetheart I am so sorry." Barbara gasp.

Patricia took a deep breath. "Yeah.. but hey at least you're ok.. That's really why I called.. So.. yeah.. I.. think I'm just going to go to bed. It's getting late."

"Yeah.. It kind of is.. I should probably get some sleep myself. Hey call me if you need anything ok?" Barbara offered.

Patricia hung up the phone and leaned back in the recliner. Her eyes felt wet. Was she.. crying? She hadn't done that in years. She roughly wiped the tears away, almost angry for crying over him. Especially after how he treated her. Regardless her guts were balled up with so many mixed hurt feelings she didn't know what to feel, and that made it even worse. The tears slowly started to coldly trace down her flushed hot cheeks. For the first time since her father died, she cried herself to sleep.

The next day she was back in that mode again. In the woman's locker room putting on a fresh uniform. She had her game face on as she fixed her collar in the mirror and made sure both of her lapels were straight. At least now she didn't have a reason to break herself out of it. As the rest of the week went on it began to feel more and more normal, she felt more like herself. She could be that outside person on her terms, when she had to. Like when she had to go to the DMV, or the dentist. Some public place where it felt nice to wear a dress and put on makeup. All the while the story of the fire in Tujunga continued to grow stranger and stranger. All over the news were more and more crackpot theories. Everything from a secret weapons factory, to doomsday prep'ers stockpiling fuel. All the while there still wasn't any official explanation and the entire area had been cordoned off. Every one who had been evacuated still weren't aloud to go back to their homes even though the fire had been out for two days. Their excuse was that there were still smoldering hot spots and they wanted to be sure another fire wouldn't break out before they let people go back to their homes.

Even stranger still were all the people who were reporting seeing a strange bug eyed fur covered monster lurking around their homes. Of course Patricia didn't believe any of that, since they still hadn't caught anything on camera yet, and everyone was shocked and suspicious about the fire. It was all just a classic case of mass hysteria. Even still it was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about. In the recreation room when she was standing by the TV to make sure no fights broke out over the channel being changed at least. This week most of the ones who even cared about the TV were all in unanimous agreement that they wanted to watch the news and hear the next report about the Tujunga Beast as it was sensationally named. She listened to the inmates banter with an amused smirk. How could they believe such nonsense?

"I'm telling you! It's an alien from outer space. I know! Back in 87 I hunted and killed aliens for a living!"

"You are crazy as a june bug, There ain't no such of a thing as aliens."

"How do you know? Have YOU ever seen one?"

"No..."

"That's right, and you're very fucking welcome cause if it weren't for me, we would all be overrun with slimy green brain sucking body snatchers!"

"Yeah yeah yeah.. It's kinda late to keep playing that crazy card. Everyone knows you went psycho and killed like eighteen people back in 87. But they weren't no aliens."

"Would you two shut up I'm trying to hear what Fabienne is talking about."

Patricia wanted to laugh but instead she just held that amused smirk. At least today was her last day for a few days. She and Barbara had planned a girls saturday. They were going to go to Madame Porcine's Day Spa for the full treatment. Barbara even agreed to the mud bath.

"The reports of a strange looking furred creature have been confirmed tonight with these images taken from closed circuit cameras in Tujunga." Fabienne Growler reported as a picture in picture beside her head showed very blurry images of a dark blue upright something. You could barely make out striped markings, and the most prominent feature was a very long tail.

"The strange creature known as the Tujunga beast. Has been seen in suburban areas, and often is blamed for trash cans being knocked over and gone through. At least one witness claims to have seen it looking in their window. There ZPD declines to comment on the situation."

"See I told you! I told you! It's an alien breeder looking for a place to form it's disgusting egg cocoon so it can spread it's brain sucking larva all over Zootopia.!"

It was the same guy who was running his mouth about being an alien hunter. He was a ram and known drug junkie who had a bad trip a few decades ago and went on a killing spree. At this point Patricia just couldn't help laughing.

"Oh come on! Give me a break, that picture was so blurred you can't tell what that was. Besides with all this crazy stuff going on someone is bound to put on a silly costume and go running around trying to get attention. I mean seriously?! I bet you guys believe in Bigpaw, and the Zoup Garu too huh?" She just had to put her two cents in this time.

It created a debate, but nothing rowdy enough to be concerned with. Besides it's friday you have to let them blow off some steam once in a while other they get tense and fights break out.

"Bigpaw is real! I seen it!"

"Oh shut up you old nutter. I'm with Miss Patricia. All this stuff is just hoaxers and sensationalism."

"Yeah!? Well you'll see when they suck out your brain and walk around wearing your fur like a tailored suit!"

"Ok ok guys, if you get rowdy I'm going to turn the T.V off and you will have to find something else to do." Patricia coaxed trying to calm things down. It worked. They didn't want their precious TV turned off. She shook her head in amused disbelief. Some of these guys were paranoid crazies, and so of course they believed it. They believed in all this kind of stuff. She just couldn't believe everyone was falling for it. They were having fun, and not trying to kill one another though, and that was a good thing. She was at least glad of that. But as far as all of this aliens and monsters stuff goes, she just didn't buy it. Not with a plug nickel.

It was only moments after the evening news that the buzzer began to sound. Patricia knew what that meant.

"Ok guys. Lights out. Everyone form an orderly line and proceed back to your cells." She called as the grumbling and protesting inmates got up from their chairs and started shuffling into a disorganized line. A couple of them even told her good night.

Truth is, things on the inside were often much calmer than the cop dramas on TV portray. All that was due to the taming collar. It was a concept that was scrapped many decades ago, but survived in the form of inmate population control. Back before Zootopia was quite so civilized all predator type animals were required to wear a shock collar. However it was ruled to be brutal, unjustified, and unfair, as many of them never triggered it for the whole time they were wearing them. Though the technology remained, and became a more viable option for controlling violent repeat criminals. Some on the outside even still had their taming collars, and would never feel the freedom of living without one due to the nature of repeat violent offenses. So for Patricia, the inmates with the collars didn't scare her. She knew that those with the collars would be electrocuted into submission if they got out of line. It was the ones who didn't have them that she worried about. There was nothing between them and violence against another inmate, or guard except her. Those were the ones she kept her eyes on.

With the buzzer, and all the inmates securely in their cells meant Patricia's shift was coming to an end. And she couldn't be happier. After the week she has had, she was looking forward to nothing more than a girls day at the spa, relaxing, talking, and forgetting about broken hearts and conspiracy theories.

Chapter 4

"I thought it was a nightmare, Lord it was so true. They told me don't go walking slow, the devil's on the loose. Better run through the jungle."

Patricia met Barbara downtown for brunch before they were to have their luxurious girls day out at the spa. Madam Porcine's was known for being mostly a high class spa for pigs, but all were welcome. They were known for having the purest, smoothest, most mineral rich mud in all of zootopia. Just how Barbara scored the reservations was beyond Patricia since they were known to be booked for 6 months pretty much all of the time. They were already laughting and forgetting about Herman. This was already starting out to be such a relaxing day. Then later on tonight they planned on going out. Goaty McGruff's pub for beers and a few rounds of pool, and maybe some darts while they caught the highlites of this weeks game on the tube.

However one of Zootopia's most recent residents was by no means having such a lovely time.

They had been tracking him since last night. Roddy was good at hiding, but this was getting insaine. These guys seemed to always know where he was. It was a constant chase and he hadn't sleept in well over thirty hours now. Not to mention that after crashing on this out of the way planet he had been scavaging through garbage bins for something to eat.

This place was definitely not his intended destination. He was aiming for somewhere closer to the center of the galaxy where all the action was. Instead his hyper drive killed out just as he reached one of the outter arms. It probably had something to do with damage he took from those missles just as he entered the hyperspace threshold. He would have split ion soup if he hadn't jettisoned all of his cargo at the last minute to both act as anti-missile chaff and to drop weight so he could gain speed. Of course that left him with no supplies. Not that it would have mattered. After being pulled into the planet's gravity well, his ship caught fire from atmospheric friction and he had to disconnect the command module fom the rest of the ship to keep from going up in flames with it. He was actually pretty shocked at just how large of an explosion that small hyper drive made when it went super critical. He had landed a mile or so away but he felt it rattle his pod when it popped.

Since then he had been trying to lay low, remain unseen and learn something about the people here. It was unfortunate that his psionic wave decoder didn't work on recorded voices. He had to be within thirty feet of someone speaking for it to translate their language. At least in that time he had picked up the language to near mastery. Learning through a decoder is relatively fast because it reads a speaker's mental associations and memories of what a word sounds mean. Then it relates them to the person hearing it through the decoder. So you learn definitions and usages of words just from hearing someone speak them. The problem was, it didn't actually translate. Someone wearing one could understand someone, relatively. But the person without one still had no idea what the person wearing one was saying. Both parties were required to be wearing a decoder in order to understand one another. So essentially he could listen in, and learn the language, but he couldn't actually talk to anyone. At least not until he learned enough of the language to communicate naturally. Out in the nebula, these decoders were rarely necessary as everyone spoke a language simply referred to as Common. It was constructed for the purpose of communication rather than being some race's natural language. Most of everyone knew it because it was easier to learn common than to try to learn hundreds of indigenous languages.

Then there was the little problem that any time someone saw him they screamed and ran. Not very polite. No one even tried to communicate with him. Except these ugly looking guys with the big noses and mohawks who were communicating with the darts that were being fired from their guns. That was not a communication he particularly wanted. But he understood it pretty well. In fact their intension was obvious. They wanted to capture him, if not kill him. Maybe both. What was worse, he lost both of his only weapons back on the space station during the fight with Blith and his goons. So he was unarmed, ill supplied, and pretty much all around shit out of luck.

He had been tracked by all sorts of creatures with varying technology, and senses. A part of his freighter hopping stow away youth he wasn't proud of. But at the time it was either that or be someone's dinner. Even remembering all that, no one ever seemed to always be just minutes away from catching him like these guys. All of the time. He hadn't had a moment's break yet. He had caked his fur with mud to mask his heat signature. It didn't work. He had rolled around in all sorts of smelly things to mask his smell. It didn't work. The only thing he didn't try was to be invisible. If only he had a cloaking device. Of course so far from how things were going that probably wouldn't help either. They apparently didn't even need to see him to know where he was. His problem was of course that he had lost all of his 'gadgets' when he had to use his cargo as anti missile flack.

Roddy was out here playing cat and mouse against a highly trained, very well equipped team of what to the best of his reasoning could only be special ops military, or paramilitary. And the honest truth was that he was not equally trained and definitely not equally equipped to deal with it. At the moment it was that deep embedded will to live that was keeping him alive. But he was getting tired. Maybe this was a very very stupid idea. To think that a piece together small, tactical hyper drive which was never meant for long jumps could possibly get him close to the inner galaxy where, at least he thought life was greener. Instead it got him crash landed on some podunk planet out in the boondocks of space far from any trade routs, or other civilizations. As far as space goes this planet was in the middle of nowhere.

He could hear them behind him. Maybe a few hundred yards. They were very quiet, but footsteps always give themselves away. With the snap of a twig, or crunch of some leaves. He quietly scampered on all four acrost moss covered limbs up and down trunks of trees, and swinging from vine to vine. Anything to put distance between them and him. All the while he could hear them getting closerdespite all his efforts. It was like trying to run from your own shadow.

It was starting to get dark now. His welding goggles adjusted. Truth is, they were not typical always dark welding goggles. They were advanced transitional lenses that could instantly go from providing night vision, to shading a thousand times the light of looking directly into an average sized star. That is why he wore them all the time. The light on this planet was so bright compaired to the artificial lighting he was used to that it made his eyes feel like they were packed with sand. He knew he had to just aclimate, so little by little he tried to tolerate the sunlight. But so far it was torture.

As he ran he couldn't fathom what they would do to him. Other than kill him. He really didn't know anything further from that. Yet it seemed like every moment they got closer and closer. It was at the point he could hear their footsteps, their breathing almost right behind him. He knew it was getting just past dusk, because he noticed his goggles brighten one more notch as the sun began to fall beneath the horison. Leaping over a pile of logs and through the underbrush he landed directly in a... Busy thoroughfare?

Quite right in fact he had leaped out of the thick of the jungle right into a roadway that was cut through the middle of it. It wasn't the blinding headlights but the shock of absolutely not expecting this. That made him stop in his tracks. The cars made horrible trumpeting sounds as the dodged and swerved around him. Roddy for the first time in his life froze. He finally had no idea what to do. No spur of the moment plans. No wits, just fear.

They burst out onto the road behind him, the team of special razorbacks. Tough, callus boars who prided themselves in being the means to all ends when it came to police and military operations. They fanned out, three of them lighting flares and stopping traffic. The other three triangulating around Roddy while his eyes darted around, and his mind raced. No idea what to do.

He could hear the three around him screaming orders to him as the stars came up and the traffic piled.

"Get down on your knees!"

"Hands on your head!"

"Tail straight out behind you!

Roddy understood, but the honest truth was he was running on adrenaline and fat reserves. His brain was pounding. He couldn't think. And his body wouldn't react. He could not comply fast enough because he was at the point of exhaustion. Then came the sharp strong sting in the base of his tail. As if someone had hit him with a hammer, that just happened to have a nail welded to the head. He had no idea that the common arms of both the zootopia police, and the special weapons and tactics team the razorbacks was a tranquilizer dart gun, or rifle. They could have no idea that his particular physiology would react so violently to the sedative in the darts.

After the punch and sting of the dart came a slight disorientation as the artificial venom began to soak into the fat layer at the base of his tail. The real effects however came on very fast. It was like a migraine headache on steroids. First he felt his temples get hot and begin to pound. Then his vision perception drew in to tunnel vision like looking through a tube. The next thing that happened was the worst. Heaving, painful nausea.

Roddy had hardly ate in days. His stomach was empty yet it heaved and convulsed so violently. The razorbacks watched as he dropped down. Not just to all fours, but flat on his chest, face out to one side and heaved trying to vomit over and over and over again even though nothing came up. He rolled onto his side curling up holding his guts as he kept violently heaving until finally the violent heaves forced bile to begin to cough from his mouth as he heaved.

" This is Razorback 6. Subject in custody. Requesting medic immediately!" One of them finally called over the radio at the others just watched. Most of them not so much in shock but amusement.

"Copy that Razorback 6. Evac deployed. Hold your position." Came a return on the radio.

His name was John Tuskar. He was the youngest of the Razorback team. But despite that, he was still at a second in command rank at least when he worked with this particular team. He was also very good at what he did. It wasn't killing someone that bothered him. It was that these were tranquilizer darts. They weren't supposed to do this. They weren't supposed to make things suffer. He accepted that sometimes killing for the greater good was part of his job. What he didn't accept was being cruel and making things suffer. He opted out during interrogation sessions for this reason. He knew torture methodology, he just hated doing it and often left that to someone else who didn't mind. Tough, yes he was. Strong most definitely. But a cold hearted sadist. No. Not by any stretch. He was in this for bringing the justice others weren't strong enough to bring. Not to just make things suffer. He didn't know why he was chasing this creature. Looking at it. He knew it was in fact a creature. It was not any type of animal from Zootopia. But aside from that.. Something was wrong. It should just be sleeping now. Instead it was violently nauseous. Then something happened that tore at his heart.

In his desperation Roddy called out trying to see if he could actually communicate with him. "I... surrender." He heaved. "Don't kill me like this.." He begged in between vomiting up more bile. "I don't.. know.. what I did wrong." he gasp choking. It was at that moment when Roddy's body gave up and he collapsed. Unconscious and still trying to vomit.

"Keep him on his side. Don't let him choke. They want him alive." One of the older members of the razorbacks blurted before making other orders. "Bind his hands and tail. Especially that tail. I've seen how he uses that. It's like a third arm."

All the while John just froze. The realization was just starting to sink in. He was part of a team investigating an alien crash site, and here they had captured a live alien. But why did it know their language. Why did it beg for mercy. He wouldn't beg for mercy in his situation. It was his training. He would endure being coated in napalm and lit on fire without giving up. Or take his own life rather than being captured. There was some tone. Something in thing things voice that just hurt him to hear despite years of dealing with suicide bombers, and hostage situations, and kidnappings. Drug kingpins and cartels. This creature wasn't military, or some savage beast. It was just an average guy who just happened to be on the wrong planet. He just watched as they loaded him up onto the truck.

One of the other razorbacks approached him. Samuel Swinezel. He just grabbed his shoulder and shook it hard.

"John. Wake up. Come back to reality." John looked at him still glassy eyed.

Sam always did that. It was almost his catch phrase. But at least there was one of them who payed enough attention to shake the shell shocked out of his brothers when he noticed them zoning out. It wasn't the first time. Not with john and not with others. Any time someone lost focus Sam was there to bring them back.

"Sam.. what's going on here? Is this the right thing to be doing? This thing isn't some monster or invader. It's just a guy running for his life. I don't know if I'm cool with this." John stammered trying to deal with how unusual this entire mission has been. First they were secretly recovering scorched wreckage, and now this.

"Hey listen.. I don't know either.. It's not our job to think about it. We just bring them in.. right?" Sam replied shaking his head.

John looked at him. His eyes finally cleared. He just nodded and agreed. "Yeah.. yeah Sam. We did our job.. It's not our problem now."

That night as Patricia turned on the news there wasn't a single word about the Tujunga beast. The backup on the thoroughfare, or the razorbacks's. In fact for the first time in a week the news didn't have anything to say about the recent strange occurrences. She was too tired to really care. Her skin felt so silky, and the massage.. oh gosh the massage. Her whole body felt like a jello molded in the shape of a pig. If the entire city of Zootopia were to explode right now, she would sleep through it.

Meanwhile Roddy was being loaded on a gurney under the cover of a sheet and rushed through all the customary processes of being booked by the ZPD. They brought him in the back instead through the front booking office like normal criminals, and went straight down to the lower infirmary. It was equiped the same as the common infirmary but it was down in the sub levels adjacent to the solitary cell block and meant for those who were in permanent solitary confinement.

It was the next morning when chief Bogo heard of last night's secret arrest. The next morning he canceled all his appointments after coming in early as he usually did, and reading the strangest report he had read since the night howler incident a year ago. In fact it was the strangest incident he had ever read period. His curiosity defeated him. He had to see this "Tujunga beast" for himself. And once he found himself down in the infirmary he didn't see a beast. He saw something odd, true. However with the breathing tubes in it's throat, and the machines keeping him breathing while in sedation. He didn't see anything that looked particularly beastly just different from what someone would be used to. In fact right now he looked quite pathetic. The best description he had for what he was looking at was literally a fur covered lizard laying in the bed. Quite a large one. Almost the size of a wolf.

"This isn't some trick. This isn't an elaborate costume?" He questioned in disbelief.

"No sir, chief." The nurse answered. "I shaved his arm to start the I.V. He had tiny scales under the fur. The fur itself grows out from around the edges of the scales so thick it covers them up. I have never seen anything like this." She replied,

Bogo thought for a moment. "That's quite interesting ma'am. What I want to know.. When can I interrogate him?" He asked. Despite this being so strange he had to keep his head about him and try to follow some assemblance of procedure. At least find out if this thing was a threat to Zootopia or it's citizens.

The doctor shook her head. "Oh, chief. I'm sorry I really don't know. I've never really seen anything like this.. I really don't even know how to treat him. All I know is that he had a really bad reaction to the common tranquilizer. It almost killed him sir. A half dose more and we would be looking at a cadaver right now."

Bogo almost snorted. "That isn't my problem. I have heard all the rumors and I don't care. All I need to know is, did he cause the fire in Tujunga?"

The doctor answered. "With all due respect sir.. I don't know. It's my job to keep him alive. Not question him. Not that he could really answer while he's like this." The alpaca answered gesturing to the fully unconscious Roddy on the infirmary table.

Bogo humphed and walked out. At least now he had seen the face that caused so much destruction. In his mind it didn't matter how or why. He was already convinced that no excuses were were good enough. In fact he wasn't even shaken by the idea that this may be an actual extraterrestrial life form. That didn't matter to him. What mattered was that he started the largest fire Tujunga had seen in 40 years. And he had to be brought to justice for it, weather it was intensional or not.

Roddy awoke strapped down to what to him felt like a cold hard infirmary bed. His stomach was still in knots and his head still pounded. He could see shadows moving around him. It was Tuesday morning but to him that meant nothing.

"Ma'am... Doctor Crestler.. It is awake."

Roddy heard the sound of the young male voice announce. Though he dare not move. Ashamed at himself that he had been caught with his eyes open. He should have kept them barely squinted enough to see around the room while appearing to be closed so that he could scan his surroundings without anyone knowing he was awake. He knew that. Why was he fucking up so bad lately? He had been through so much in the nebula. So many close calls, fire fights, ship battles, and being in captivity. He was only twenty two, relatively speaking yet he had been through so much.

Since they knew he was awake he opted to just open his eyes and looked directly at them. One was a something, and the other was a something else. He didn't know what the hell they were.

The nurse was an intern otter. Young and inexperienced and quite frankly scared. But the head doctor was a quite old alpaca. She was a doctor in an emergency room trauma ward for years, after interning under the head surgeon there. Later she finished her doctorates in pharmacology, surgery, and medicine. It wasn't until later after she had her own successful practice that she moved on to being a prison doctor. Sometimes she asked herself why. Truth is the pay wasn't as good, and the patients were usually less cooperative.

She moved over to Roddy and began snapping her fingers in his face, not to get his attention but to test his eyes reflexes.

"Yes he is coming out of it. I am actually surprised he survived." She mused. "after reviewing his blood and tissue samples, I honestly thought he wouldn't make it. …. Very interesting.".

She kept snapping in his face. This to actually get his attention.

"You.. Wake up.. Focus.. Look at me." She commanded. Roddy focused on her face. He looked directly into her eyes. A small way of letting her know he was fully aware of his surroundings.

"He has rather pretty eyes. They look like some sort of polished purple stone." She mused for a moment.

By now he was off of the breathing machines, though he still had an IV drip of normal saline infused with nutrients. When he was brought in he was malnourished and almost dehydrated. For a moment the doctor wasn't even sure he would survive. Seeing how he reacted to the tranquilizer she was hesitant to even try giving him the antidote. Instead she gave him plenty of fluids to flush it out. It must have worked because he seemed to be awake and aware now.

"How do you know it's even a he?" The otter questioned looking over the doctor's shoulder.

"I had a DNA sequence done on him. He is definitely male. Though I have no idea what he is. He doesn't match any particular animal. Different parts of his DNA match different animals. It's as if he is a mixture of many things, though the majority of the DNA affecting his appearance is reptilian, there are also very strong mammal traits coming through. It's quite interesting."

"Where am I?" Roddy wheezed, his throat still sore from the breathing and feeding tubes.

The doctor looked down at him with an amused expression. "Oh! You speak. Then I am to assume you are intelligent? Do you have a name?" She questioned.

"My name is Rodrick Tull. Of course I'm intelligent. Where am I?" He answered feeling a little angry.

"You are in a prison infirmary. You can thank me for saving your life later. You will have to forgive us. If we knew how violently you would react to the tranquilizer we would have just used tazers." She explained, almost coldly.

"What do you want from me? What was I hunted down and arrested for?" He questioned.

"Well.. it was you who caused that explosion which started the fire was it not? Doing things like that happens to be illegal. So we are charging you with arson, you will likely be found guilty and spend quite some time here." She explained.

Roddy thought for a moment. She did have a point on that. "Ohhh.. yeah.. If I told you I didn't do it on purpose it wouldn't help would it?"

She chuckled. "Well.. I'm no judge, but my guess would be no.. It would not help. If I were you I would be thinking about getting a lawyer."

Roddy gave the strange looking doctor a rather annoyed work. "Forgive me for now knowing anything about your legal system.. I'm not exactly from around here."

The doctor walked away for a moment going over to the counter and picking up his chart. "Oh, I can tell that. No identification, no birth or hatch records, no documentation of Zootopia, or Reptropolis citizenship.. If I didn't know better.. I would think you just.. fell out of the sky." She mused. Then turned to the nurse. "Nurse Oswald, would you go retrieve a set of prison clothes for Mr Tull, and tell Chief Bogo that he can ready an interrogation room now. I believe he is stable enough to leave the infirmary."

Roddy wasn't sure what to say. He had actually never seen a species who weren't aware that space was teaming with life, yet these people seemed in a state of shock and disbelief that he could be from somewhere other than their own tiny little isolated planet. He thought about it for a second and wasn't sure if it was an even a good idea to be so open about him being from somewhere else. Since technically he wasn't from another planet. Fact is he had lived his entire life on colonies in the nebula. This was the first time he had ever experienced being on an actual planet made of dirt and rocks. He watched the otter leave. The doctor turned back to him with an amused grin on her face.

"Now that we are alone.. Let's not talk falsely. You aren't even from this planet are you?" She asked getting straight to the point.

Roddy shook his head, he really didn't have much choice in the matter. The doctor already knew she

just wanted to hear it from him.

"No.. I was born in space. On a colony in a nebula called the Labyrinth Nebula. There was a malfunction and my ship crashed. That's what caused the explosion and fire. I was trying to go somewhere else but.. Obviously never made it. Now I'm a criminal for something that wasn't even my fault. So.. you can imagine I'm not having a very good day right now." He explained in a dry tone.

The doctor leaned in closer, putting her finger under his lips and lifting them to look at his teeth.

"You have the teeth of a predator. But the eyes of prey.. What species are you? Are you some sort of monotreme?" She asked removing her finger. At least she was wearing gloves.

"I don't know. Maybe that would be the closest thing.. I don't know what a monotreme is really. But what I am is hard to explain. I'm not any species. I'm an amalgam. We are an engineered species. Someone about a thousand years ago made us. We didn't evolve from any particular species."

The doctor nodded. "Well that would explain why you seem to have DNA from hundreds of different animals." she noted

"Well at least you guys are advanced enough to know what DNA is." Roddy smirked. "Listen this little conversation we are having is really nice, but just between you and me.. Your people have never met life from outside your own planet have you?" He asked.

The doctor smiled. "No we haven't. In fact most people here don't believe it even exists."

Roddy laughed. "Then I probably shouldn't go around telling people I came from space should I?"

The doctor leaned down looking at him again. "You have such pretty colored eyes..." She mused for a moment.

"That wasn't what I asked.." Roddy said dryly.

The doctor straightened back up. "I would not advise telling everyone that you are an alien. I have sympathy for you so I will put in my report that you appear to be a lizard that was born mutated and has fur and warm blood. As for what caused the explosion.. You will have to come up with your own cover story for that." She said as she began writing something on the clipboard that contained Roddy's newly documented medical file.

"That's good to know." Roddy said. "Why are you helping me?" He then asked.

"I think that I could learn more from you alive than dead. So I am looking forward to you being convicted so that I can study you." She explained.

Roddy's heart sank. Now all of a sudden she didn't seem so nice as her ulterior motives revealed themselves. She wanted to experiment on him.

The otter returned. He had the prison clothes requested, with him were two guards. Both were roughly the size of Blith. One had a rather large horn coming out of the end of his snout, and the other had what Roddy could only identify as a tentacle coming out of his face. Of course that was his perception of the first time he had ever seen a rhino, and an elephant. He had mostly seen the people who lived in the jungle district. He didn't know this planet was so diverse. Not that diversity was a new thing to him. Thousands of species came and went through the nebula, so it wasn't much of a shock to him. He just didn't like the idea of being a prisoner for something that he would have rather not happened.

"I had a little trouble finding something that I thought would fit. He's bigger than a fox, but not as big as a wolf, or panther.. So.. I thought maybe these bobcat sized clothes would fit? If not I also brought panther size, and sheep size? It's the tail that is the problem. We just don't make clothes to fit his body style." He explained sitting the stack of prison clothes on the counter.

"That is fine. I'm sure something will fit well enough. You are free to go. I think I have this situation under control." Miriam Crestler nodded then turned to Roddy.

"I am going to take your restraints off now. I hope you cooperate. Keep in mind you are three floors below ground in a very secure prison. Even if you do manage to escape, where would you go? The Razorbacks would just hunt you down again. However if you play by our rules in time you may have your freedom back, after you have served your debt to society of course." She said as she began unbuckling his restraints.

Roddy didn't intend to try to fight his way out of this one. He was much too weak. Still feeling very sick from the tranquilizer, and honestly she was right. What would be the point to escape here only to be hunted down again with nowhere safe on the entire planet. It wasn't like he could hide.

He sat up. "So.. I go with them and get dressed in.. what ever in that stack fits? Then what?" He asked.

"Well you will be taken to a room.. asked a lot of questions.. and after that you will be put in a prison cell. Though I can't tell you for sure weather it will be a solitary cell, or one with a cell mate." She explained.

Roddy got up, he did as he was told, and followed the guards into a different room where he was aloud to change into which ever set of prison clothes fit. The panther clothes were more his size, but he had to rip out the tail sleeve to let the base of his tail fit through. After he was dressed he was put in restraints. They chained his hands together, and his ankles together. They had a time figuring out what to do with his tail. Finally they chained one part of it down with his ankles, and the wrest of it up with his wrists. Roddy didn't bother telling them that he could slip his tail out at any time he wanted. On the other hand he played along and didn't try. He honestly didn't want any more trouble. He just wanted to play by their rules. Do what ever he had to do for them to forgive him so that he could be set free.

Chapter 5

" 'Cause what you see you might not get. And we can bet, so don't you get souped yet. You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage. I'm trying to tell you now It's sabotage."

Roddy, has been interrogated, examined, and threatened. In the end he didn't fold. He never broke down and told him the truth. Now he had a lawyer. Who was tiny.. in his opinion. But apparently he had a very loud voice. The people of Zootopia knew him as a hamster. Roddy knew him as just a tiny furry thing. But he was very thorough. Roddy had a hard time dodging some of his questions, and even harder of a time coming up with an alibi for who he was and where he came from. As far as how the explosion was caused, that was easy. What was common knowledge to Roddy was genius science to these people. He had found the easiest way to explain away the explosion was to claim that he was a grass roots technology developer who was working on some fairly exotic things. With his knowledge of hyperspace physics and technology that was easy to play off. But who he himself was, that was proving more difficult. He told them a partial truth. He was raised in an orphanage, and that he didn't know where he came from. The doctor even testified on his behalf that he was a rare mutated reptile. Possibly even an evolutionary leap in reptile physiology. After the initial trial he was deemed not dangerous and released into general population. It was already close to lights out by the time he was shown which cell he was to be in.

Patricia stood at her usual post as the inmates came in. This time as they came single file there was a little bit of a gap on either side of a particular inmate despite the guards leading them in, and calling orders to take up the slack. When she saw him go by she couldn't help but gasp. It was a furred reptile about the size of a cougar or mountain lion. He was a dark blue just a little lighter than her own uniform. He had bright purple tiger like stripes outlined in yellow. She watched him in absolute disbelief as they shuffled into their cells. The badger that had the same cell as him was obviously nervous as the cell door closed.

Roddy stood in the cell holding the things they had given him. There was an awkward silence before the creature finally asked. "Top.. or bottom..?" then a pause, and Roddy didn't answer. That's when the badger finally stood his ground. "Hey buddy.. Listen.. Look at me.. I kinda need the bottom bunk. Could you see me trying to climb up there? You look like you can handle it." He said frankly.

Roddy snapped out of his thoughts. And he nodded in agreement. "Yeah. That would much easier on both of us. I'll take the top bunk." He agreed.

In all truth, Roddy was quite familiar with this sort of treatment. Growing up in the orphanage wasn't much different from this. Except so far from what he had seen the food here was better. In the orphanage most food could be described as the taste and texture of oil soaked bread. And not even a tasty oil. Just an oily slimy oil.

The doors were locked down and Roddy stood in the corner as the badger laid on his bunk. Watching Roddy stand there almost amused him. This guy.. what ever he was must be new.

"So.. what are you in for?" The badger asked. Trying to break the ice. If he was going to be in the same cell as this guy he might as well try to get to know him.

Roddy thought for a moment then answered.

"Do you know the Tujunga fire?" He asked.

"Yeah." The badger answered.

"I started it." Roddy simply answered.

The badger seemed amused. "Noice!" He replied with a smile on his face.

That instantly told Roddy that he was not in the right place. He was lumped into a sum of criminals who definitely were not the same mind set as him. He just wanted to make music, and make people happy, to make them dance and rock. He didn't want this. He was among the same type of people he went through all this to try and get away from.

"So what was it? Did you have a vendetta? Or just want to cause mayhem?" The badger asked.

Roddy shook his head going over to the bunks and putting his stuff down on his bed. "No.. I was trying to build a hyper drive and it exploded on me." He said not sure how this guy would take it.

"A what? A fucking hyper drive? Like for space travel? Are you some kind of mad scientist?" He asked laughing.

Roddy nodded. "Yeah.. I kind of am."

The badger looked at him with a frank expression. "You aren't an alien are you? Cause there's this guy who's been going on about alien brain suckers since the fire started."

"Uhm.. I don't suck brains.." Was all Roddy offered.

To his surprise the badger laughed. "Ok man.. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." he chuckled. "Just watch out for crazy Cliff. He thinks he spent the 80's hunting and killing aliens. If he sees you he's gonna freak." He said rolling over. Still chuckling under his breath.

Patricia had stood her position as all the inmates shuffled into their cells. Now that all the doors were locked down she was free to walk the halls checking in on all the cells. But she already knew which one she wanted to check. As she approached the cell she could see that the strange looking furred reptile was standing in the middle of the cell like he wasn't sure what to do. She used her nightstick to wrap on the bars to get his attention.

"Hey you. Oddball. Lights out." She simply ordered.

Roddy looked at her, then looked down, and went over to his bunk. He climbed up, finding it hard for him and his tail to fit in the tiny bed at the same time. He rolled over onto his belly and just let his tail hang off the end of the bunk. He was going to have some serious cramping in the morning sleeping with it draped down like that. He looked down at the guard. She looked like a she, he hoped she was a she because he didn't want to be giving eyes to another guy. That just wasn't what he was into.

Patricia looked into his eyes. They were so purple. So bright, Like big round pieces of polished amethyst. He was looking at her with bedroom eyes. Normally she would probably get mad. But she didn't. She couldn't help it. His eyes were so deep and purple and pretty. She had to shake herself out of the stare.

"It's lights out.. you have to go to sleep ok.." She repeated in a slightly less demanding tone, then she turned and went back to her post by the main door.

Something inside her heart melted. She was fully intending to be a hard ass with this new guy. Especially after knowing he caused the fire that put so many people out of their homes. But she didn't see the eyes of a criminal, or mad bomber when she looked at him. They were the eyes of a a frightened victim someone who was scared and confused innocent yet proven guilty. She felt her heart race. Why did he have to look at her like that? Why did his eyes have to be so big and pretty purple? Why couldn't he have savage eyes. That would make it so much easier to treat him like the criminal he was. After all he DID cause the fire. She heard him admit to it while she was walking up to his cell doors. Accident or not, he had to take responsibility for the trouble he caused.

Before she was even aware of it, the next shift came in and relieved her of her post. She didn't even hear the buzzer. Now she had no choice but to go home and deal with those deep purple crystal eyes. She couldn't do that. There was an excitement in her. Something she hadn't felt in a long time. There was something new to think about, something unique to learn about. So this was the Tujunga beast? He didn't look all that beastly. In fact he was kind of cute looking. The way a plushie doll is cute. And she wasn't sure why he was described as having bug eyes on the news. His eyes were so pretty. They looked like big purple jewels.

She hung around in the women's locker room knowing Barbara would be done with her shift soon. Hoping to meet her she just watched the other female police officers come and go. Most of them she didn't even know. They were all in a hurry to get changed into their civilian clothes and go home.

"Oh Hello Patricia."

She heard from behind her and turned to see that little rabbit that had become so popular for cracking the night howler case.

"Oh, hello Judy." Patricia replied. "So.. bust any criminals today?" She asked, just trying to be friendly.

"Oh.. no nothing that exciting. Had a few traffic stops, and caught a shoplifter. Nothing very exciting." Judy replied sounding a little down about the lack of excitement.

Patricia nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of been the same old, same old with me too." She said. "Oh, except for this new inmate. Everyone's calling him the Tujunga beast.. To tell you the truth he's not much of a beast." She said with an amused tone.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. He's the one who caused the explosion that started the fire right?" She asked as she took off her police uniform down to her underwear.

Patricia nodded. "Yeah, I heard him talking about it. It wasn't like a bomb or anything. Apparently this guy is some kind of genius. He was trying to build a... what did he call it. A hyper drive.. Some sort of space travel stuff and it exploded." She explained.

"Wow really? So he's not like a terrorist?" She questioned.

Patricia shook her head. "Oh no, It wasn't anything like that." She replied. "And he's not a beast at all. To tell you the truth he looks kind of cute. He's like some sort of plush stuffed toy. He's all furry with really big purple eyes.."

Judy began putting her civilian clothes on. "But he did cause that explosion though?" She asked. "The one that started the fire." She added.

Patricia agreed. "Yeah.. He did. I heard him admit to it. But at least he didn't do it intentionally to cause destruction and mayhem. It was just an experiment he was working on that went wrong." She said.

"So you don't think he's dangerous?" Judy asked as she pulled her shirt down

Patricia thought for a moment. "He doesn't have the eyes of a criminal. I'm more worried about the badger he's bunked with than I am him." She said.

Judy changed the subject. "Patricia, weren't you the guard who was on duty when Dawn Bellweather was incarcerated?" She asked.

Patricia nodded. "Yeah, she was in my cell block for a few months. But she was transferred out to a different block. So I don't now where she is right now. " She explained.

Judy looked down putting her shoes on. "You didn't let anything happen to her right?" She asked.

Patricia was kind of shocked that she would be asking her this now. Of course she hadn't talked to her much since the night howler incident. But Patricia understood her concern.

"I made sure nothing happened to her on my watch. But when it was out of my hands... It was out of my hands. I'm not a stone heart Judy. I can tell the ones who need to be protected while they're here on the inside. And I protect them." Patricia explained.

"What about this Tujunga beast do you think you need to protect him?" Judy asked as she pulled on her final shoe.

"I don't know. I don't think he's any sort of beast. He just looks different. I mean how often do you see a lizard that's covered in fur?." She said.

Judy looked at her sternly. "How do you know that he's not dangerous? I mean how much have you actually talked to him? Or watched how he behaves?" She asked.

That almost insulted Patricia. She had been a prison guard longer than Judy had been a police officer. She had far more experience on her side. She was basically still green rookie and was questioning her?

Patricia looked at her frankly. "I know because I have seen criminals with no remorse. And he had remorse in his eyes. I could see it. I can just tell Judy. I have been dealing with criminals since I was your age." She said.

Judy stood up finished dressing by now. "Well It's for the court to decide, not us. So we'll see what happens." She commented before she started out of the locker room.

Patricia felt like she wanted to slap her. Judy had always been confident, but this past year she's almost gotten arrogant. That condescending tone she took just now really rubbed Patricia the wrong way. Not over this Tujunga beast, but because this green officer who hadn't even been on the force for two years was trying to act like she knew more than Patricia did. Just because she solved one big case didn't give her the experience she had. Patricia had been a prison guard for close to eleven years now. She knew how to read people and tell which ones are going to be trouble and which ones just had a run of bad luck. Sure Judy had intuition, and natural instinct. Patricia had actual experience.

That was what made her mad the most. These beat cops, busted the criminals, and had the luxury of forgetting about them. Prison guards like Patricia had to deal with them every single day. They got to make the arrest and forget about it. Patricia had to watch them. She had to deal with them all day not just during an arrest. The beat cops could move on to the next arrest. It wasn't personal for them the way it was for Patricia. Most of the time they were just out patrolling and didn't even deal with criminals every day.

Barbara finally came in to the locker room. She instantly spotted Patricia. "Patrice! Hey girlfriend. I thought you would have gone home by now. What's up?" She called.

Patricia looked at her frankly. "Hey Barbie.. can we go out tonight. I kinda need a drink." She said without any reservations. They didn't go out every night. Patricia certainly didn't drink every night. Sometimes though you just needed something to help you unwind.

"Yeah... sure Patty. What's wrong, are you still in the dumps over Herman?" Barbara asked. Even though she knew Patricia hated that name. She could get away with it when others couldn't. Between the two of them it was ok. Just not for everyone else.

"Barb.. I just need blow off some steam. I need someone to talk to, and you're my best friend." Patricia offered. Almost begging she looked into that jaguar's eyes. Imagen that a pig being best friends with a jaguar. That itself proved Zootopia was working

Barbara began taking her officer clothes off. Patricia watched her, almost jealous at her figure. Barbara was so perfect. She had perfect hips, perfect breast, perfect everything. Patricia fought hard not to hold it against her. The honest truth was Patricia was always the wing woman. The sightly less attractive girl to make Barbara look so much better by comparison. Of course for a long time now Patricia had been seeing Herman, so she had to turn guys down, and just help Barbara have all the fun.

But she was ready to get over Herman. She wanted to be the one who was the center of attention for once. She didn't want to just be there to make Barbara look better. She watched Barbara get dressed. Barbara notices.

"Hey.. Sweetheart? What's wrong. You seem really distant tonight." She said. Patricia shook her head and sighed.

"I don't know Barbie, I think I must be having a midlife crisis or something. Nothing makes sense anymore." Patricia said.

Barbara stepped over and gave her a tight hug. "Oh Sweetheart. I didn't know you were taking this breakup so hard. I really thought that spa treatment would have picked up back up."

"It did.. really I loved it. I just.. I don't know. I guess I feel unappreciated is all. It's just you know.. the beat cops get all the credit and attention, but after they book the bad guys I'm the one who has to babysit them every single day. But no one ever gives us guards any credit. The news never wants to interview me. It's like we don't exist."

Barbara pushed back a little. "Hey now. I'm a beat cop.. No one ever interviewed me either."

Patricia shook her head. "Yeah.. I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that."

Barbara shook her head. "No, it's ok. I know what you meant. We get all the attention while you do most of the work, and no one ever gives you any credit. But Patricia, girlfriend I know. I see how hard you work, what you have to deal with every day. To tell you the truth I don't have the guts to do what you do. I spend most of my time patrolling on my cycle. Once in a while I'll give a speeding ticket. It's honestly really boring compaired to what you go through every day. Trust me. I do appreciate you."

Patricia smiled. "That's why you're my B.F.F."

Barbara smiled back. "And E." She added.

That was their little inside thing. Best friend forever... And ever. Any time one of them would say B.F.F the other would follow up with And E. Barbara really was her best friend. They trained together in the academy, they bunked together, got in fights together, fell in love and broke up together. They were as close to sisters as two completely different species of animal could be. Especially for a pig who was best friends with a jaguar. She would do anything for Patricia, and it hurt to see her so down in the dumps.

This Herman guy had really did a number on her, and what really pissed Barbara off is that he wasn't even worth it. He was just a gentrified arrogant snob who was looking for a trophy wife. When he found out he couldn't mold Patricia into fantasy wife he didn't think twice at breaking her heart, and that was such a low blow. Patricia deserved better than that. She was hard working, had a noble sense of justice, and even though she had to be a little hard nosed most of the time. She has such a big heart of gold. She even watched out for that little lamb that was darting people with the night howler toxin. Making sure no one picked on her just because she was small. Even though the honest truth was Bellweather deserved a good ass kicking. Barbara saw the sadness and self doubt in her friend's eyes. She wanted so much to just make it better. Tonight was going to be Patricia's night.

"Look, Patricia.. If we're going out tonight. You can't go out looking like that." Barbara said. "Don't worry I know a guy." She smiled. "We're getting you a make-over." She mewed.

"But.. Barbara.. you already paid for the day at the spa." Patricia protested feeling guilty at just how much her friend was doing to pull her out of this slump.

"Oh.. don't worry sweetie. You're worth it. I'll do what ever it takes to get you back on your feet again." Barbara grinned. For the first time in a long time, Patricia felt like the center of attention when they were out at their usual hangouts. A few guys even tried to flirt with her. That really boosted her self esteem. The next day at work she felt like a completely different person.

Chapter 6

"Sweet baby Jesus on fire. I'm gonna need a damned lawyer and a miracle to pull my ass out of this."

The next morning Roddy spent with his lawyer, who apparently was putting two and two together and coming up with sixteen. He was quite mad. Yet as angry as he was Roddy just couldn't take it seriously. Seeing this tiny little thing standing on the table in front of him throwing a fit. It was like something out of a comedy sketch.

"There's something you're not telling me Rodrick!" The little hamster raged. "I'm your damned lawyer for crying out loud. You have to tell me these things! You have no identification, no citizenship, no work history. Where were you getting to money and facilities to build a damned hyper drive with? Is that even a real thing? It sounds like something out of FurTrek! You can't seriously expect me to be buying this!?" He raged.

Roddy just shrugged. "I did what I had to." He answered.

"Were you selling drugs!?" The little hamster questioned. "Because if you were that's a whole new charge I have to deal with." He squeaked.

Roddy just shrugged again. "I did what I had to.. thats all I'm saying." He simply said.

"Yeah.. yeah... you keep saying that. FINE!" The little hamster screamed. "But you know what is really messing with my head? What the hell are you?! Yeah the doctor says you're just a normal lizard who happens to have this hyperthrichosis thing... I don't buy it. Not for a second. I've researched the species of lizard in Reptrolopis. You're not any species of monitor lizard that I can identify and they are the only species that get your size. You're as big as a komodo dragon. And you are NOT a komodo dragon with fur! That's not even a thing! That doesn't exist."

Roddy shrugged. "Hey man.. I don't know. I hatched like this and that's all I know." He offered trying to keep his cool.

The little hamster jumped up and down shaking his fists. "Gawd damn you! You are lying to me I can tell it!. I've read the reports! There were NO ballistic residue left over at the blast site. Nothing! No black powder, no cordite or ammonia nitrate. You know how they are classifying it? They are saying that the explosion was a mass discharge of plasma based energy! How did you do that? What the hell were you doing out there in the jungle that caused THAT?" He raged.

Roddy kept his cool. "I told you. I was building a hyperspace drive and the containment breached on me. Of course there were no explosives residue. There were no explosives. I wasn't building a bomb. I was building a faster than light travel device." He lied.

The little hamster pulled at his hair and screamed. "This is bullshit! I'm done with you! I can not go into that court room and testify that you were building some sort of technology that is hundreds of years beyond what normal science says is possible! I'm not going to ruin my career on proving science fiction!"

Roddy shrugged. "You do what you gotta do little man." He said.

The little creature stomped up and down shaking his fists. "Stop calling me little man dammit! I am not little. I'm perfectly normal size for a hamster!"

"What ever you say little man." Roddy smirked. Just to see him throw a fit and rage out again. The little creature screamed into his paws to muffle the sound, then pointed up at Roddy.

"You son of a bitch! You're going to regret not cooperating with me! I don't care how smart you think you are. Someone is going to find out the truth about you. When they do they are going to nail your ass to a wall!" He raged before jumping off the table and storming out.

Roddy chuckled. He knew he probably shouldn't have done that, but he couldn't help himself. That little guy flew off the handle over nothing every time he's talked to him. It was like he was always on the edge of snapping all the time, and anything would set him off. So of course Roddy had to push his buttons. Watching him freak out was too entertaining to resist.

The guard opened the door, and came over to Roddy. "Ok, looks like you're done here, let's go." the rhino said as he unlocked Roddy's chains from the ring attached to the table and let him back to his cell block. It was just before lunch so most everyone was in the rec room, either watching TV, lifting weights or playing checkers. Some prisoners opted to just stay in their cell. After lunch they would all be shuffled out into the yard for exercise. They were aloud four hours out of their cells. That was probably pretty lenient. Higher security prisons only let their prisoners out for one hour a day. Of course to him, this arrangement wasn't much different from how things were growing up in the orphanage.

He went over to the rows of chairs and took a seat. The screen on the wall was flickering images of some old black and white movie. It was apparently called The Day Zootopia Stood Still. And was about some alien guy and his eight foot tall robot trying to warn people about not having wars or something. But they don't listen so his robot goes on a rampage.

"Klaatu barada ni..." Hack! Cough cough! Someone laughs from the back.

Roddy was only vaguely paying attention for the most part. These guys seemed to have an odd idea about what life from other planets were like. As if there is really some galactic council that makes everyone play nice together. If something like that was real he hadn't seen it. The campy drollness of the movie was sort of amusing though.

"Ohh, that's funny.. Take me spaceman she said." Roddy chuckled shaking his head. He was actually starting to get into this movie. Not because it was accurate to the reality of life in space but because it was just so.. pulp fiction it was hilarious. He was so busy watching the old B-movie that he didn't see the ram who had sat down behind him twisting either end of a shoe lace around his paws making a garrote.

Patricia saw him though. She saw him when he was pulling out his shoe string, and had been watching him as he slowly worked his way quietly from seat to seat until he was directly behind Roddy.

The next thing Roddy knew this pig was lunging at him, or so he thought. Patricia quickly pushed her paw between Roddy's neck and the shoe string keeping the ram from pulling it tight to strangle him. She then she shoved his head down out of the makeshift garrote, pushing him out of the way so that she could grab Cliff and roll him over the row of chairs and pin him to the floor.

"Get off of me! What's wrong with you? Can't you see that thing is a body snatching alien scum! He must die before he forms a cocoon and spreads his brain sucking larvae all over the prison! We'll all be doomed!" He protested as he squirmed, but Patricia had him pinned securely.

"You're not killing anyone on my watch. You just got yourself two days in solitary." She grunted tightening up on his wrist holding it up behind his neck, while her knee was pressed firmly into his lower back holding him down.

Two other guards that were posted in the rec room came over to assist Patricia. They cuffed his hands behind his back and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on you, we have a nice padded cell for you downstairs." One of the two guards announced.

"Yeah you're usual." The other added as they walked him out of the room.

Roddy sat up rubbing his neck. "What the hell was his problem? Is he off his meds or something?" He growled. Patricia helped him up.

"He's just nuts. He's been going on about alien body snatchers for weeks. He thinks you're from mars or something." She explained helping him back into his seat. "You're not are you?" She asked being facetious.

Roddy looked at her with a shocked expression. "What? No. Of course not. That would be crazy. There isn't any life on mars."

Patricia smirked as she went back over to the TV where she usually stood to keep fights from breaking out over which channel to watch. Roddy stared at her with an amused smile. She was pretty nimble. That was actually kind of impressive. From now on he would have to pay more attention to watch his own back. After all this woman wasn't going to always be around to bail him out. No doubt this Cliff guy was likely going to be trouble again once he got out of the hole.

She reached over and changed the channel to the station with the daytime talk show crap on it.

"I think we've all heard enough about aliens for a while." She said, basically deciding for them what to watch.

"Yeah? Think of how I feel. I can't show my face in public without someone asking me what planet I came from." Roddy called out folding his arms over his chest.

"You're a furry lizard. How can you blame them." Patricia smirked back.

"Look I have explained this before. I have hypertrichosis. It causes abnormal hair growth." He smirked back, looking directly at Patricia.

She gave him a look of disbelief. "How can something that doesn't naturally even have hair, have a disease that causes hair?"

"Are you calling me an alien then? Wow, you're as bad as the crazy guy." He retorted in a jokingly sarcastic tone.

"I thought we were done talking about little green men from mars for a while." Patricia smiled back. She didn't usually joke with inmates, she preferred to keep it professional. But there was something exciting about this guy. He was unique, a novelty. He provided a break from the boring same old thing that had been dragging her down lately. It was fun.

"I'm blue and I'm not from mars, I'm from the labyrinth nebula." Roddy laughed, actually telling the truth. That was his own little personal joke, to tell the truth for once in a situation where he knew people would think he was just joking.

Patricia shook her head with a slight smile that she was honestly trying to hide.

"Now you're just making things up." She replied coyly.

Rodrick looked at her with a smirk of amusement. He could tell she was having fun. She didn't look like the type of woman who had a lot of fun. He could tell she was so used to having to be a hard ass that she forgot how to let her guard down, and just laugh once in a while. He could almost bet that she lived a double life. There was the person she was out there in the real world. Doing all the normal things, acting like an average woman. Then there was the tough girl she was in here. What he was curious about was which side of herself she liked to be the most?

He could identify with that. He was multi-faceted as well. There was that part of him who was a fighter and a salvage dog. An adventurer, and fast thinker. Then there was that side of him who just wanted thrash his guitar, and rock some faces. The kind of guy who wanted to be up there on stage strumming out solid metal power chords and screaming into a microphone. But which did he enjoy being more? So far since he arrived on this planet all he has managed to do was get himself arrested for arson. He hadn't made any sort of demo tapes, or even found out where everyone in the underground music scene hung out. Fact is, his guitar and all of his recordings were burned in the fire, so he would have to start again from scratch.

As for Patricia, she almost felt guilty for letting her hair down. She straightened her collar, and went back to being the strong silent type. She had to remind herself that she wasn't here to make friends and pal around. She was here to watch the inmates and make sure they didn't break any of the rules or try to escape.

For the most part that was all she did, she didn't really get to know many of them, except certain ones that were just hard to ignore. Some people just stand out of a crowd. She could tell this Roddy guy was one of those people who just had to be seen. They wouldn't let it be any other way. The kind of person who always had something funny to say, and unique to do to make themselves the center of attention.

Unfortunately for him, just being what he was got him plenty of attention. Not to mention that a prison full of psychos, crazies and paranoid conspiracy nuts might not a place that you would want to be getting attention in. Crazy Cliff was almost guaranteed to keep making attempts on Roddy's life just as soon as he was out of the hole.

Of course she predicted that one pretty accurately. The next incident happened in the mess hall. Cliff hadn't been out of solitary even twelve hours yet before he was at it again. This time they were coming off of the chow line, the guards were there watching them, making sure they all kept in an orderly single file like, until they were out of the chow line, then they were aloud to sit where they wanted.

Roddy of course was minding his own business, looking for a table with the least other animals sitting at it. He heard footsteps shuffling faster behind him. He turned and saw Cliff coming at him with a fork in his paw.

"Whoa! What are you planning to do with that fork? Stay away from me dude! I'm not trying to have to kick your ass today!" He growled but Cliff didn't slow his approach. Patricia had her eyes on them both but she was too far away to make it to them before Cliff was close enough to Roddy to attack. He came at him slashing and stabbing with the fork.

Roddy dumped his lunch off the tray and began using it as a shield to deflect the fork stabs. "This shit is getting old dude! You better leave me alone before I get pissed!" Roddy warned. The truth is he was trying really hard not to get in any fights. That would just make his situation worse. But this guy was asking for it.

Roddy dodged to the side deflecting a stab from the fork, while sweeping his tail around both of Cliff's ankles. He snatched his feet out from under him, letting him slam to the floor. A second later he felt something that was somehow soft and hard at the same time hit him from behind.

Patricia hit Roddy with a football tackle, and they both went down to the floor. One of the other guards pinned Cliff to the floor while Patricia began cuffing Roddy.

"Ok you two! Now you're both going to solitary!" She barked as she pulled Roddy back to his feet.

"Wait a minute! He was trying to kill me with a fork! I was defending myself." He protested.

"It doesn't matter who starts it. If you fight you go to the hole." The other guard replied as he pulled Cliff up and gave him a shove to get him started walking out of the mess hall ahead of Roddy to keep them separated.

Patricia nodded. "Sorry bright eyes, the rules are the rules. Let's go." She said grabbing him by the elbo and walking him out of the mess hall.

Roddy shook his head in defeat. "Yeah, what ever.. at least no one will bother me for a few days."

"Now you're being optimistic bright eyes." Patricia smiled as she lead him out into the hall and toward the elevator. Another guard approached them as they came to the elevator doors. It was policy that guards had to be in multiples when taking inmates up and down stare wells, and in elevators. The Rhino stepped into the elevator with them and pushed the button eyeing Roddy. He didn't say anything just made sure he didn't try anything stupid as they went down to the magistrate's office to be booked into a solitary confinement cell. Patricia opened the door guiding him into the doorway.

"I'm taking these cuffs off now.. So behave and just get in the cell." Patricia explained.

"Look lady I'm not the one that's been giving you trouble. It's the guy who's trying to kill me every chance that he gets." Roddy snapped sarcastically.

Patricia sighed and nodded as she removed the handcuffs. "I know.. Like I said though. The rules are the rules." She said giving him a little push into the cell before shutting and locking the door.

Roddy turned around and looked at her through the little slot. "I'm hungry you know.. That asshole made me dump my lunch all over the floor, and they don't give you much to eat in here to begin with." He protested.

Patricia looked at him with a sympathetic expression. "Ok here.." She said reaching into her pocket and pulling out a chocolate bar. She pushed it through the slot in the door. "I'm sorry if it's a little melted but it's all I have. Maybe it will hold you over until dinner." She slid the lid over the slot in the door then turned to walk away. She hesitated for a moment then turned back and slid the slot back open again.

"Listen... Bright eyes.. Maybe after my shift I can sneak down and bring you some chips and cookies or something from the officer's lounge.." She added quietly and then shut the peek hole again.

She started to walk away, she would have to make a report about the fight. That would take a few hours out of the rest of the day. She didn't know why she felt so sorry for this guy. Maybe she just was getting soft on him because she thought he had such pretty eyes. She had never offered to bring an inmate snacks before. She was even more surprised at herself because she was actually planning to do it.

Patricia went back up stairs, and reported to the magistrate, who made her an appointment to be debriefed on the incident. It wasn't very stressful. She basically met with Harvey Horn, an elk, that did a lot of the processing and employee counseling. He actually had several psychology degrees, and he was one of those typical soft mannered laid back, love and peace kind of guys. He would always ask, how things made you feel, even when it wasn't prudent to the matter at hand. He was always quick to give advice for healthy ways to de-stress and cope with job related tension.

Patricia explained to him just what happened, and in her experience why. It was all pretty straight forward. She then went back to her post. There was some banter going back and forth among the inmates on weather or not Crazy Cliff could actually be right this time. Patricia just sighed and stood there with her arms folded across her chest. She didn't have the energy to get into the conversation, or try to shut it down. She just listened with a skeptical smirk on her face.

Chapter 7

"Stand out on the edge of the Earth. Dive into the center of fate. Walk right in the sight of the gun. Look into this new future's face."

Patricia decided to go to the officer's lounge during her break and fill out the necessary paper work about the incident in the mess hall. To her surprise Barbara was also there filling out a report. She went over and sat down across from her.

"Hey girlfriend what's shakin'?" She asked as she set her documents down and clicking open her pen.

"OH! Hey. I heard about what happened in the lunch room. Everyone's talking about this Cliff guy trying to exterminate the alien. Can you believe that?" She laughed almost with a tone of nervousness.

Patricia heard the odd tone in her friend's voice and gave a suspicious look. "Yeah, we had to tackle both of them and break it up. They're in solitary now. Hey you're not buying all this aliens from space stuff are you?" She asked with a hint of concern.

Barbara looked down at her paperwork. "I really need to finish this report. My partner and I just made a major bust and there's a lot of stuff I need to get written down before I forget.." She said shuffling the papers.

"Barbara... you're dodging my question." Patricia noted in a serious tone.

Barbara looked back up at her. "I.. I don't know.. It's just, I know this guy.. His name is Samuel and he's on the Razorbacks.. He told me some things he probably isn't aloud to tell anyone. He sure seems convinced."

Patricia laughed. "Ohh Please.. Don't tell me you're believe everything some guy tells you. You know those special ops guys are always making up stories to make themselves seem more mysterious."

Barbara shook her head. "No. Not Sam. He's not like that. He's not in the Razorbacks for some kind of personal glory. He's a really down to earth guy. He told me that his team were the ones that did the recovery of the evidence at ground zero of the explosion. The science team still can't identify most of it. If they don't know what the stuff is.. I mean these are the kings of the nerds.. They should know if it's something made by us."

Patricia gave Barbara a serious look. "Barbara there are no such thing as aliens, or space ships. You have been watching too many movies and buying into this hysteria. I talked to the guy, he's just some eccentric inventor who had an experiment explode on him. That's what he keeps telling people. He himself said that he was not an alien. So who should I believe, a bunch of unfounded rumors, or the actual person involved?" She explained.

Barbara shook her head pulling out her phone and swiping through her list of media. "I think he's lying about that. I think he crashed here and the fire was caused when his spaceship exploded." She said as she found the video she was looking for, and tapped play before handing it to Patricia.

"Look at this. I filmed it the night of the crash, I didn't want to say anything because I know you're a total skeptic.. But this thing flew right over head. It couldn't have been any more than one hundred feet above my house. Just watch the video and you tell me what that is. I got the whole explosion and everything recorded right there!" She insisted.

Patricia watched the rather clear, smoking gun video of Roddy's ship on fire as it lurched through the sky bobbing and weaving. It appeared to break in two, with the front section falling into the forest as the rest of it went down over the horizon. Then there was the blinding flash of the explosion. It was a very strange explosion with no real fire or smoke, but rather a sudden expansion of white hot energy, with electrical arks cracking over it's surface. It dispersed like smoke being blown away in the wind, as the streams of white glowing plasma dispersed they set the forest on fire.

Patricia watched with a confused look on her face then looked up at Barbara. "Have.. you shown this to anyone?" She asked not believing what she had just seen.

Barbara shook her head. "No. Just you right now.. I almost deleted it. But.. I couldn't, it seems too important.. I don't want to loose my job so I have just been keeping quiet about it. It's just.. I can't tell what that flying thing was other than it was not an airplane or helicopter. And it DID crash and cause that explosion."

Patricia shoved the phone back across the table to Barbara. "Delete it. That's what I would do. Delete it and forget about it." She almost said angrily

Barbara looked at her with a hurt expression. "Patricia why are you mad at me about this? I'm just telling you what I saw.."

Patricia was mad, she was wasn't sure why all this stuff was rubbing her the wrong way. She knew in her heart she should be supporting Barbara. They were the best friends in the world, but she just couldn't stand behind her on this. It was all too crazy. The whole world would change if this were true. She didn't want it to change. Some days she felt like it was hard enough for everyone to just get along without adding to the stress by telling the world they were being invaded.

She looked down at her paperwork, then back up at Barbara with an embarrassed expression.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you.. I just don't want to hear all this.. I can't deal with it, not right now." She said as she suddenly grabbed all of her things and got up walking out.

Barbara called for her to wait, but she didn't. Patricia kept going. She knew she was being such a jerk right now, but she couldn't help it. She put her notebook into her locker and then went back to her shift. For the rest of the day she felt numb. She felt like she had fallen into the twilight zone. She really wasn't mad at Barbara. She didn't even want to admit to herself but she knew who she was mad at. She was mad at Roddy. She was mad at him for lying to everyone, for lying to her. Just when she was starting to think he was a good person. It just didn't seem fair the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen just had to come from space. She didn't even want to confront him about it all. That would be making a scene. And inside here everyone sees everything. The last thing she needed were rumors to start about her and Roddy. Honestly it really wasn't even like that. She just loved his eyes. But she didn't love him. She didn't even know him. It was all just because she was still hurt inside over breaking up with Herman, and she needed something to comfort her. Feeling like she was protecting someone who deserved it made her feel better. Now she wasn't sure if he even deserved it.

That didn't stop her from going to the officer's lounge and buying a few bags of chips and cookies from the vending machines, and then making her way downstairs. She said she would, and she always made good on her word. She walked past the guard who was busy reading a magazine. He glanced up but didn't say anything. She made her way over to the cell where Roddy was and slid open to peep hole.

What she saw shocked her so much she dropped the bags of snacks she was carrying. Well it was what she didn't see that shocked her. Roddy was gone. He wasn't in the cell. She looked back at the guard who was still flipping through the pages of his magazine. She wasn't sure what to do, and hesitated to raise the escape alarm. How could he have gotten out? where did he go? She had turned the key in to the magistrate so she couldn't open the door. She looked back and forth in disbelief trying to see if he was hiding in a blind corner or under the bed.

Just as she was about to go into complete panic mode she heard a quiet laugh from inside the cell. That's when Roddy lowered down into view from where he was hanging from a support beam that ran across the ceiling by his tail.

"Oh that look is priceless. I wish I had a recording of that. You were about to completely loose it!" He laughed.

Patricia narrowed her eyes and hissed quietly. "You stupid jerk! What are you doing up there? I was about to hit the alarm button! You would have been in so much trouble!"

Roddy shrugged. "Oh.. you know.. Just hanging around." He laughed.

That's when Patricia saw how dilated his pupils were. "Wait a minute!" She hissed quietly. "Are you.. stoned? Where the hell did you get contraband from?" She growled quietly making sure the guard down the hall didn't hear her.

Roddy blinked and slipped down from the ceiling. He wasn't coordinated enough to get his feet under him and he just hit the ground. He picked himself up. "I haven't had any drugs. Just what they brought earlier... Well I did eat that thing you gave me a few minutes ago. What was in that? It really packs a kick."

"It was a chocolate energy bar... How could chocolate get you high?" She asked in disbelief even though she could tell he was telling the truth.

Roddy shrugged. "I don't know. I've never had chocolate. Allergic reaction maybe?"

"Uhm No. Chocolate doesn't do that. No one gets buzzed from eating chocolate. It just doesn't happen. Besides getting high isn't an allergic reaction. It's just a reaction." She said shaking her head as she picked the snacks up off the floor, making sure none of it contained chocolate. She wasn't going to loose her job for giving this guy drugs. She shoved them through the slot, and then hissed at him.

"Here! And don't get used to this either because I'm not going to make a habit of it. I just felt sorry about that guy making you spill your food earlier." She snapped. Then she slid the peep hole closed, and turned to walk away.

"Hey.. wait.." She heard Roddy call from inside the cell. Patricia stopped and turned sliding the slot open again. "What?"

Roddy gave her a glassy eyed look of remorse. "Thanks. I really wasn't expecting you to come back. You really didn't have to do that. I'm sorry I scared you. I don't know what I was thinking." He apologized quietly.

Patricia sighed. "It was really mean.. You don't play tricks on the people who are trying to help you. Now go lay down and try to act normal. If you get caught all stoned out of your gourd like this you are going to be in a lot of trouble. I could get in trouble too if they find out it's because I gave you a chocolate bar. Just be cool ok?" She explained quietly before closing the slot and walking away.

She quietly went back upstairs. She didn't even bother to change out of her uniform, she just went straight home and ordered take out. Her whole head was spinning from everything that happened. She couldn't believe herself for starting to consider that what Barbara said just might be true. But who gets that high off of chocolate? It just didn't make sense. And he had never had chocolate? How could that be possible. How could you live your entire life on a planet that has chocolate everywhere in every form conceivable and have never eaten chocolate? That just didn't make any type of logical sense at all. She could tell he wasn't lying through. He was too buzzed to lie. It never dawned on her to take advantage of the fact that he was too drunk to lie and ask him any serious questions. Maybe she was just too distracted by that stupid joke he played to think about it. Patricia ate in the dark, and in silence, she didn't even want to turn on the TV. She was scared there would be more nonsense about UFO's and aliens. She hated herself for letting guys turn her life upside down. First it was Herman, and now this crazy furry lizard. But at least he wasn't breaking her heart. She would never let anyone do that to her again.

Just as Patricia was about to doze off her phone began to ring. It was Barbara. She almost didn't answer it. Not because she was still mad, but because she was embarrassed. She knew that she treated her pretty low, and she felt bad about it. She did answer though, she couldn't, not answer. That would only make Barbara worry more.

"Hey girlfriend what's up?" She answered.

"I, just wanted to call and check on you. I mean.. that was the first time since we were back in the academy that we disagreed on something, and thinking about it has really had me bummed out all day." Barbara said quietly.

"It's not you Barb.. I was being a real ass. I didn't mean to be like that. I just have been so stressed lately. This crazy ram keeps trying to kill that furry lizard guy everyone thinks is an alien... because he thinks he's an alien. They have already had two fights." Patricia explained.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Everyone has been talking about this guy. He's just so strange looking, everyone is bound to assume the worst." Barbara agreed.

"Well.. Yeah, and I never even asked his name. But you know, there's one thing that isn't strange about him." Patricia sighed.

"What's that?" Barbara questioned.

Patricia leaned back in her chair. "Oh, Barbie this guy has the most exotic deep purple eyes I have ever seen. The kind you can just get lost in. And he seems really nice. He's not trying to fight with Cliff. It's just that Cliff is a nut job, and thinks he used to hunt aliens. So now he's got it out for the guy and keeps trying to kill him. The furry lizard guy is just defending himself." She explained.

"Oh, no. Don't tell me you're falling for this guy? He very well could be an alien you know?" Barbara warned.

Patricia sat up in shock. "What?! No! I'm not falling for anyone, I'm just saying.. he has really dreamy eyes. That's all. Besides, he's not even my type."

"Patricia, do you even know what your type is? I mean you have been with Herman for two years. When you two first started dating you were sure he's the one. Your anchor you called him. The one that brings you back to the real world so you can remember that life on the outside is actually normal." Barbara said.

Patricia sighed. Barbara had a point. At the time she thought that Herman was what she wanted. In the beginning it was nice to have a normal life outside of the prison. She didn't know that after time the anchor that grounded her to the outside world would start to feel like the anchor dragging her down and keeping her from being the tough girl she always felt like she was inside. Why else would she choose to be a prison guard? Of course she felt like some people in prison just didn't deserve to be there, or weren't tough enough to take care of themselves in there. It made her feel needed to protect those kinds of inmates from the hardened cold criminals who honestly needed to be in there. On the other hand she couldn't deny the excitement of it all. That adrenaline rush when she broke up a fight. The empowerment she felt from being in authority. It all just made her feel so alive. She couldn't deny that side of herself.

"Barbara, come on. It's not like that at all. You know how I am. Certain people in prison probably shouldn't be there, or are just too easy of a target, and someone has to look out for them. He's kind of like one of those. He isn't some hardened criminal. He doesn't want to fight anyone or make any trouble. He just wants to do what he has to do so that he can make it up to society. He deserves someone to give him a break." Patricia explained.

"Well.. I guess you're right either way. If he is just an eccentric inventor, he wasn't trying to invent a bomb. He was trying to advance space travel and just had an accident. And IF he is an alien, well I doubt he crashed his space ship on purpose." Barbara agreed.

"There you go with the alien thing again..." Patricia sighed.

"Ok.. ok. I'm sorry.. It's just.. I know what I saw. I know what Sam told me that he recovered. Something very strange is going on." Barbara insisted.

Patricia sighed. "Ok.. I'll admit, I don't know what that thing was that you took video of, and you can see it fall down in the trees and explode.. Normally I would say it was a hoax, but I know you. You're a cop, you're not some graphics artist. You can't even draw a stick figure. So I know you didn't fake it. It's just. Doesn't it bother you that all this is turning our world upside down? I mean it's like a year ago when all the predators were going savage." She explained.

Barbara paused. It was a heart stabbing silence, one of those moments where you know you just brought up the wrong thing to someone you cared about.

"Barb.. I'm so.." Patricia began, but Barbara cut her off.

"Yeah. I remember. Do you know what else I remember? While everyone else was going crazy, and arresting predators for absolute misunderstandings, you had my back Patricia. You never quit believing in me, and the depth of my character. You were there for me when some of our friends were scared to even be near me. Why can't you be here for me now?" Barbara hissed.

Those words were like a mirror shoved right in Patricia's face. A mirror showing her just how much she had let Barbara down. She was right. After all she had done for her lately. After all they had been through together. The point was driven well home. Patricia didn't know what to say. During that time, some of their little after hours group who met at Goaty McGruff's had stopped coming on nights that they knew Barbara was going to be there. Just because she was a jaguar. And that was so wrong. It was so wrong to let this drive a wedge between them now, after they had stayed so close through such trying times.

Patricia felt something tickle down her cheek. At least this time she was crying over someone worth the tears.

"Barbara.. please listen.. I am sooo so sorry. You know how much you mean to me, and I would never turn my back on you. I just don't understand all this. It's scary. I just can't figure how it doesn't just scare you to death. Because it does me." Patricia begged.

There was another short silence. "I know Patty.. I do. But we are best friends forever and ever. It's not fair for you to treat me like this." Barbara said quietly.

"I know.. you're right Barbie.. Listen I'll try to do better. I'll make it up to you somehow. Just give me some time to figure all this out.. Ok?" Patricia whispered.

"Sweetheart.. I know you've had it rough lately.. Just remember.. I'm your sister.. like, your heart sister.. in our hearts were sisters... Just don't push me out ok?" Barbara replied quietly.

"Yeah, true sisters in our hearts.. Always." Patricia agreed.

"Listen sweetie. I'm going to call it a night. I just wanted to see how you were doing. I really hate seeing you so confused like this. I.. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Barbara said before abruptly hanging up the phone before Patricia could say anything else.

That left Patricia feeling even more rotten inside than she did before. Not because Barbara had just laid the mother of all guilt trips on her, but because she knew inside she deserved it. She knew she should have Barbara's back always. They had been through too much together to forsake each other now, not over this. Patricia laid back in the recliner. She still hadn't even taken her guard uniform off. At least she had a fresh one in her locker. She could always change in the morning.

The next few days she just focused on doing her job. She didn't have that confident smirk anymore. Now it was just an all our look of pure anger. Ironically it seemed to work even more than that confident smirk. The inmates could tell that she was on edge, she finally felt like they did. Just on the edge of snapping. Right at that thin line between restraint and not giving a damn. That point when you were the most dangerous. For three days there wasn't a peep out of anyone. Not a single inmate stepped out of line on her block. They didn't even argue about the channel the communal TV was on. She clocked in, clocked out and went home. She hadn't talked to Barbara, which was very unusual. Maybe they both needed time to cool down.

Roddy was finally out of solitary. As he went through the breakfast line in the mess hall, he saw that familiar face standing over by the door. She looked so angry, and he hoped it wasn't from that silly trick he had pulled. He hadn't so much as seen her since. Honestly he didn't even know her name, but he had grown to like her. She seemed like good people, but this time he could tell something was really getting the best of her. He found a table as close to where she was standing as he could. He even gave her a friendly look, but she just snorted and looked away. It made him feel bad, but in his defense he was stoned at the time, and it was her fault. Not that either one of them could have known chocolate was like strong marijuana to him.

All of these little things were to suddenly pass away. The most unexpected thing was to happen that morning. Something no one in Zootopia, not even Roddy could have expected. About one hundred feet above the prison, the sky shimmered and began to change. Out of nowhere a gigantic object appeared. The object was several city blocks across in size, much larger than the enire prison complex. It was bright polished chrome silver, shaped like a porous ball. It had the look of bone tissue magnified. That porous spongy look with randomly sized holes and cavities. On it's outer shell each of these holes was filled with a shiny green sheet. As suddenly as it appeared, the green filling of the cavities opened releasing silvery segmented tubes tipped with metal teeth. They shot suddenly down boring into the prison, squirming through the halls and sucking up inmates and guards alike.

Roddy had just sat down when one of these abduction tubes chewed through the roof between he and Patricia. The teeth on the end of the tube retracted and it began sucking violently like a giant vacuum tube. He watched as Patricia was swept off her feet and pulled across the floor towards the tube.

Roddy didn't even have to think about it, he just reacted. He dove for her grabbing her wrists just before the tube sucked her up. At the same time he wrapped his tail around the leg of the table which was bolted to the floor. Patricia's eyes were wild with shock and fear, of course Roddy's were too. Even being from space this was not exactly something he was expecting or had experienced before. He was used to being abducted at gun point, but not sucked up by a giant metal vacuum hose with teeth.

"I got you piglet!" He called over the rushing sound of air, as the rest of the room panicked and everyone crowded in one corner holding on to one another to keep from getting sucked up by the giant tube.

Patricia looked back as her feet dangled in mid air hovering at the mouth of the tube. She couldn't believe what she saw. She couldn't believe who was there trying to save her.

"Don't let go!" She begged. But the tube's relentless vacuum didn't stop. Chairs and anything that wasn't bolted down began being pulled toward the mouth of the tube.

"I'm trying.. My tail wasn't rated for this much weight." Roddy called as a chair flew past him.

"Please! Just hold on!" Patricia screamed. But by then luck was against them.

Another chair tumbled across the floor this time rattling under the table and slamming against Roddy's tail. He couldn't help it, his tail just let go, and both of them were sucked up into the inky blackness. They tumbled through the darkness of the tube bouncing off it's smooth metallic walls getting beat to peaces as they were sucked deep into the huge object above the prison.

Then as soon as it appeared and flung down it's harvesting tubes, it retracted them, closed it's ports and began to lift up into the air. As it rose the same optical shimmering scattered across it's surface and it once cloaked into complete invisibility.

Patricia was the first one to wake from unconsciousness. She had trouble opening her eyes at first. All she felt was a soft warm nothing. No gravity, no air, or sunlight. Finally she could open her eyes and she found herself floating in mid air between two circular plates. One above and one below her. They were green with a lighter yellow green grid marked on them. They were attached to some sort of very organized and well plotted technology, with electrical conduits running out from them in well spaced and organized pathways over to boxes on the smooth polished metal walls. She was so sore. She remembered how her final oinkido test that earned her black belt felt when it was over. This was worse.

It took her what seemed like an eternity to be able to move. Not that it helped, all she could do was squirm and rotate in place, held suspended in air between the two plates above and below her. She began to panic, looking around her seeing all this, experiencing this, in her face with no way to deny it. Was she? On an alien space ship?

"Help! Someone! Get me out of this, Someone do something anyone!" She squealed in complete panic mode. That's when she noticed beside her was that furred lizard floating limp like a corpse with his tail curled in a spiral.

"Bright eyes! BRIGHT EYES WAKE UP!" She screamed in desperation. But he didn't wake up.

Barbara woke up quite in the same state. She found herself suspended in between two gravitationally charged plates. Around her were other such holding cells where she saw fellow officers and prisoners alike. She groggily gazed around the room in a confused state not sure how to process what she was seeing. The last thing she remembered she was in the briefing room getting her schedule for the day when something crashed through the ceiling and began sucking people up. Around her she could see Ralph the Rhino, a big bruiser of a cop. Also Guss, a wolf that lived in the same apartment as she did, and sometimes hung out with them at Goaty McGruffs. There were also a lot of others she only vaguely knew but hadn't associated with. She began calling to them but her voice kept getting stuck in her throat. None of them were waking up regardless.

Barbara squirmed and called out much to the same result as her friend Patricia who was in a different specimen room. It seemed nothing she did freed her or got the attention of the other unconscious hostages. For the first time in her life she knew what it felt like to be captive to someone with more power, more technology, and most likely insidious motives. However on the other hand, this was all the proof anyone needed, and no one would ever call her crazy for believing in aliens. Especially not Patricia.

Outside all of Zootopia was in an absolute panic. Businesses had shut down and all the streets were empty as everyone hid in their homes waiting for the mayor to tell them what they should do. They had no idea that the space ship which was several city blocks in circumference had not left. It was simply cloaked a few thousand feet above the city, while it analyzed it's captive specimens before deciding how to proceed.

The news reports of all the mundane day to day things like traffic, and weather and sports were all postponed. Instead were hour to hour briefings from the current Mayor of the city. Hillary Swinton had been elected after the entire Lionheart, and Bellweather scandal. Even though Lionheart was doing what he thought was the right thing for the wrong reasons, it was none the less illegal. So he, and his assistant Dr. Madge as well as Bellweather were all still supposed to be in prison currently.

The well refined and tastefully dressed pig stood at the podium. She wore a tasteful business suit and ornate necklace, and immaculate makeup. Beside her were two rather large rhinos with sunglasses, earpieces, and well tailored suits. She began addressing the public.

"Zootopia, once again I am asking you to remain calm. Though we can't be sure if this attack on the Zootopia police department is related to recent incidents, we assure we are doing everything to get tot he bottom of this. A special team of Razorbacks has been dispatched to investigate these occurrences. I can assure we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of the entire population." She spoke into the microphone.

The reporters were a frenzy asking every question under the sun.

"Mrs Swinton, is this an alien threat?"

"Mrs Swinton do you think these invaders will return."

"Mrs Swinton, what do you plan to do about rescuing those who were kidnapped?"

On and on they all blurted all at once. She moved away from the podium, holding her paw over the microphone as she related to her public relations correspondent. She finally stepped aside, and the spokesman stepped up.

"Please please, save the questions for the press conference later this afternoon. We will give you answers as soon as we have them. That will be all for now." He said then stepped down as the press continued barraging their unanswered questions.

Of course the giant ship had never left. Those who were calling the shots on the Razorbacks knew that. They had discovered that while invisible to all of the visible light spectrum, the giant ship still showed up on thermal and infrared. It was quite obviously still there, hovering above the planet just a few thousand feet up waiting.

Meanwhile the horrible reality began to sink in the psyche of Zootopia. They were not alone, and not everyone out there were nice. It was turning out just like one of the movies, even though those who believed, never believed it would happen like this. After all the cliché of evil invading aliens just existed in movies. They were really our space brothers? Right? Weren't they? At least in this case it was turning out that the answer was a definite no. At least when it came to whoever was in this titanic ship floating cloaked above their relatively humble city. They were just now starting to categorize the reports of just who was missing. That brought a disturbing reality. Only one of each species of Zootopia were abducted. It began to be very clear that nothing about this was random. It was as if whoever was perpetrating this were intentionally sampling a cross section of the species that made up the population. The abduction tubes actually spat out animals which they had already vacuumed up another individual who was the same species. However they could never know that there was a connection to previous events, and this one. They couldn't speculate the truth that Roddy had been followed, and this mass abduction was only secondary to the mysterious ship controller's primary goal

On the bright side, no one was worrying about predators and prey anymore. One fact had become horribly clear. In the grand universal scheme of things, they were all prey when it came to species' from other planets who had the technology and power to take whoever they wished without any thing or anyone who could stop them. If that were a bright side at all. Ironic how sometimes a people are united by the most unspeakable tragedies.

Roddy finally heard all of Patricia's frantic squealing and started to become conscious. Slowly at first just like her. It took him a while to realize where he was. When he looked around and processed the situation all he had to say was,

"Oh shit.." He gasp. "What the fuck is this shit?!" He coughed.

Patricia had been waiting so patiently for someone to wake up. In the room there were just four of these gravitational plate assemblies. Two of them were empty. It was just her and the furred lizard. Finally he woke up.

"Hello! I'm over here." She called. "What the hell is going on? Where are we?" She questioned in a panicked voice,

Roddy swam and squirmed in place to face Patricia. It didn't take him half as long to figure out where he was or come to grips with it. Of course he had prior experience.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" He asked sarcastically.

Patricia had already managed to swim her way through the anti-gravity field to face Roddy. She was shocked at how his tone was so, sarcastic. As if none of this were new to him.

"No! What's going on? Where are we? " She frantically questioned.

At this point Roddy was ready to cut the bullshit. He knew in their situation lying wouldn't help. Of course he didn't know who these person, or people were, but he did know one thing. They were some being from space who had an agenda. Just like him but a lot less mundane. He just wanted to be a rock star for shit sake. They guys were sucking people up in tunes and putting them in gravitational cells.

"I hate to break it to you. But we've been abducted and we're inside a space ship." He answered in a completely calm and rational tone.

"WHAT! How could you know that?!" She asked still not wanting to believe.

Roddy just shook his head. "Piglet.. Look around you. Think about how we got here. Is this normal? Do you people do this to each other? Does anything around you look like something you are used to?" He asked in an almost cold tone.

Patricia's entire being melted. No was the only answer she had, yet she just couldn't believe it, even though it was right here in her face.

"Bright eyes..." She whimpered.

"My name is not damned bright eyes. My name is Rodrick Tull!" Roddy barked. He didn't mean to be so short with her, but he was a little bit pissed at the moment. This whole month had been really bad for him. Ever since he escaped the nebula it's been one disaster after another.

"We are prisoners on a space ship. A damned advanced one too. Now pull yourself together and help me figure out how to get out of this." Roddy commanded.

"My name is Patricia.." Was all she could offer. She was completely shell shocked by the situation.

Roddy just hissed harshly trying to uncurl his tail. It seemed to somehow be kept in a spiral curled position by the gravitational cell. He squirmed trying to do anything he could.

"Rodrick.. I don't know how to deal with this. This isn't normal." She whimpered.

"Well you better figure out how fast. Because there's no telling what the people controlling this ship intend to do with us. Just so you know it has been my experience when someone has you like captured this, they aren't doing it to make friends." he snapped.

He watched as the woman in the cell next to him squirmed. He could tell she was scared. He was scared too, but for a different reason. She was scared because her entire reality has just been ripped in two. The lines between fiction and fact just got erased. He understood she was having a hard time dealing with it. But the honest fact was, she needed to get over that, or she wouldn't survive.

He had watched her. Seen how she carried herself, and how she dealt with the prisoners down there in Zootopia. She was tough. She had it in her, and he needed her to stop being scared at this reality break and remember who she was. Otherwise neither one of them would get out of this alive.

"Patricia..." Roddy began calmly.

"Yes.. Bright eyes." She replied, still too confused to get off that little nick name, or maybe she didn't want to.

"Patricia... I need you to focus. Remember when you tackled that guy who was trying to kill me.. Remember when you tackled me? I need you to be that person now. OK? Can you remember how to not be scared? Think the way you think when you're a guard in prison and there's was trouble. This is no different. Just be that person." Roddy tried to do the best to talk her down out of her hysteria.

Patricia thought about what he was saying. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. Yes she could be that person. She lived to be that person. Now was more of an important time to be that tough girl inside her than any time ever. She took a few deep breaths.

"Ok.. Ok.. I'm here.. I'm with you. How do we get out of this?" She questioned sternly, finally finding her own anchor. Not in Roddy or in Herman. But that anchor inside herself. Finding that bold fearless girl she always was. The girl who boxed top of her weight class, the girl who was a blackbelt in martial arts. That girl who had been a prison guard for eleven years and had seen fights, and riots and breakouts, and survived it all.

"I'm thinking this is a gravitational tube. It keeps us suspended in one place. I have a pretty long fairly strong tail. If only I could wiggle it outside of the tube.. I might be able to pull one of these cables and shut my tube down. Then I could get you out." Roddy explained.

"How do you know about all of this?" Patricia suddenly asked. Even though she had a feeling by now she knew. And of course Roddy had no reason to keep up the lie.

"I'm not from your planet ok? There I admit it. That fire was from my crashed ship exploding.. I'm a damned spaceman." Roddy answered in a rhetorical snap.

"That's why chocolate got you high..." Patricia mused. She couldn't help it. Her mind was jumping all over the place trying to figure all this out. It took her a moment to come back to the matter at hand. This was all so much for her to take in. But she was learning fast.

"Who are these guys then? What are they doing here?" She then asked

Roddy snapped sarcastically. "Oh yeah right. Since I'm from space that means I know every other alien out there personally right? Fuck! I don't know. This shit might have happened even if I didn't crash here."

"Well you don't have to be mean! I didn't know. Let's just forget this and get out of here ok?" She answered.

Roddy finally looked at her with cooperative expression. She had finally gotten over shock and found resolve. "Yeah, I'm sorry.. This has not been a very good day for either of us. But we're in it together. We need each other to get out of this."

Before they could begin trying to plan their escape a round hatch opened on the far side of the room. The inside of the ship had the same porous design as the outside of the ship. The porous structures looked like bone, or tooth material when magnified were all silvery polished metal. Membranes closed off the rounded openings in the structural design of the ship. The only difference was, inside only the doors had that jelly like green membrane closing the rounded opening. On all of the walls that membrane was silvery metal. The doors opened from the center outward stretching toward the edges of the rounded doorway.

They watched as these things stomped into the room. They were like baggy saggy canvas suits. The type of full body suits divers from the 30's used. The only difference was that instead of the round port holed helmet there was a hood that connected to a mask that was very much like an old gas mask from the 40's, with the protruding rounded snout with air filters on either side, and goggle like view holes.

There were four of them who approached Roddy's gravitational cell. As they got close surrounding him, the gravitational power reversed and Roddy fell down to the bottom platform.. This is when all four of the suited things grabbed him. They held him tight by every possible position and carried him out on their shoulders. They didn't even seem to notice Patricia. All she could do was squirm and listen to Roddy's angry protests as these four lumbering suits awkwardly carried them out held above their heads.

Now she was floating there all alone in this horrible place. Alone no one to talk to, or plan with. For a moment she was relieved that they hadn't come for her. Then she wondered if she would be next? She had no idea that others had been taken. Especially not that Barbara had been taken. Each one they took was an individual sample of all the different species of Zootopia.

John Tuskar, and Samuel Swinezel were with the other four members of Razorback team Six, in a briefing room as they went over the mission rundown. They were to take a helicopter equiped with a thermal camera and rappel down to the surface of the ship using their night vision so see where they were. Then they would use a cutting torch to attempt to gain entry. Once inside they were to find, and secure the hostages, then return to their access point to evacuate the hostages. After all the hostages were safe they were to return inside the ship and disable it if possible. The plan was to attempt to locate it's power source, place charges, and then exit. They would then parachute down from the ship, and get clear of the area before the charges explode.

The ship had moved from it's position and was now over a stretch of uninhabited wilderness just outside the city limits. They hoped that when it fell, it would drop straight down into the uninhabited region where they could then attempt to secure it with more Razorback teams. That is if it didn't explode outright, at which point they hoped it was far enough away from Zootopia to not cause any damage. If that were the case they would be looking at a wreckage removal mission. First priority however was to secure the hostages inside the ship, and get them to safety.

Meanwhile at the prison, there was still chaos, many of the inmates had escaped during the confusion. Not to mention that there were now eight foot holes all over the building, many of them leading directly to the outside. Some of them had been captured before they could get very far, but many of them were still unaccounted for. Those who were still in custody were being transferred to other prisons around Zootopia until repairs could be made.

Mayor Hillary Swinton was swamped with all of the chaos going on. The entire population of Zootopia and the outer laying provinces were dancing on a razors edge between complete break down and order. There were a lot of chaos in the streets as everyone seemed to expect that this was the end of the world. Some areas were experiencing riots, while others mass looting. All of the ZPD was on high alert, over stressed and stretched thin trying to cover all of the chaos and maintain order. She shuffled the papers on her desk, shuffling through them. She didn't know what to do. Of course in this situation no one would.

There was a knock on her door. "Come in." She answered and in walked that familiar face. It was the Chief of police Bogo. He came in and stood at her desk in attention.

"Mayor Swinton, the Razorback team is ready to deploy. They are waiting your orders to proceed." He announced.

The mayor looked at him, then back down to the intelligence papers on her desk.

"Chief Bogo, could I ask your honest opinion?" She questioned, adjusting her ornate necklace.

"Yes Madam, of course." He answered.

"Do you really think they have a chance? Can they pull off a mission like this? Once they are inside the object no one knows what they will encounter. We're not just sending them in there to die are we?" She asked concerned. After all these were the best they had. The most well trained, and the best equipped. Yet in a situation like this where they had no idea what they were going into, she was concerned.

"Mayor Swinton. If I may. Razorback Team Six is the best of the best. They are the ones who dealt with the Tujunga incident. If anyone can pull this off it is them. They know the risks, and they accept them. They are ALL dedicated to bringing those hostages back unharmed. I have faith in them." He answered with confidence.

The mayor nodded. "Then I am signing the official papers to proceed. Let us both hope this isn't a horrible mistake." She replied as she signed several papers and then handed them to Bogo.

"Madam Swinton.. what choice do we have? It is our duty to do everything we can to rescue those hostages." He assured her.

"You're right. I am just at a loss for options right now. We don't have the facilities to deal with something like this. We don't know this enemy's capabilities. I just don't want to incite an attack that will destroy Zootopia." She explained shaking her head.

"I fear the same thing. But our only other option is to do nothing. That is honestly not an option." He said with certainty.

Mayor Swinton nodded and agreed. "Go send the orders through then, and hope we're doing the right thing." She said. Bogo nodded taking the papers he turned and left to file them through the channels that would give their elite team the go ahead to deploy their mission.

Roddy was carried through the halls. Despite all his efforts he couldn't get free, These things had a grip like a vice and didn't seem to get tired at all. It was as if they were not a natural creature in those suits, but some sort of biological machine. They took him into a room that was mostly empty except for a single gravitational cell, and several rounded video screens. They threw him down on the grid marked platform of the gravity cell. It turned on instantly and he lifted to the center of it's effect area. They then shuffled out of the room. One of the view screens lit up and flickered for a moment then cleared displaying the image of a creature. It was inside a large cylindrical jar filled with cloudy liquid. It had the shape of an octopus, but with many more arms. Instead of a bellows it had a vein covered wrinkled cranium that was exaggeratedly brain shaped. It looked at him with two large perfectly circular glassy black eyes.

"Amalgam! It is good that I have you in my possession. I have great plans for you." The creature on the screen announced through hidden audio devices. He was speaking common, which told Roddy it was one of the races that lived within the labyrinth nebula where the common language was spoken.

Roddy squirmed. "Good for you. It's not so good for me. What the hell do you want me for?!" He yelled at the screen.

The creature answered over the loud speaker. "I hope that you will provide me with the solution to your origin." It answered,

Roddy was of course confused. As far as he had been told his origin was a manufactured labor force. But that was widely known. Amalgams didn't even need to be captured. Their biological blueprints were so common that anyone with the technology could just manufacture them at will. The information was out there. But no one did because there were much better options.

"What are you talking about? My kind's DNA blueprints are open source. What do you need me for?" Roddy asked angrily.

"You don't even know your origin. That is sad. You have so much potential, potentially." The creature on the screen said through the speakers.

Roddy was confused. What was so special about him?

"I don't know what you are saying. What origin? What potential?"

There was a gurgling sound over the speakers, something Roddy accepted as laughter. Then the creature began to explain.

"Your structure was originally designed to be the perfect pet. However that is not what was so special about your distant ancestor builds. Your original design included a revolutionary biology based matter converter which gave those first amalgams the ability to shape shift and transmute into anything the programmer installed into your DNA. Two thousand years ago your kind were nothing more than an unevolved version of a lizard with fur. A pet, but with the ability to become anything which was installed in your DNA information network. " The voice over the intercom explained.

"However there were those who learned to hack, and adapt the biological programming, and the lowly pet amalgam became a viable weapon, able to shift from a simple furred lizard on one's shoulder into a powerful hand held weapon, or even well armed battleship. That is when your ancestors were all destroyed in order to rid the universe of these shape shifting pets., The framework however was adapted into an anthropomorphic worker form and was sold on the open market. The information for this biological matter converter technology was not removed, only suppressed. Over time it became corrupted, yet still present in the amalgam's DNA."

"So? What the fuck does that have to do with me? I can't shape shift!" Roddy called from his gravitational cell.

"I believe if I analyze enough of your current amalgam's biological structure I will have a complete enough mapping of that biological matter conversion technology to replicate it. Could you imagine one mass of tissue which could at will change into metal, or ceramic, or any other structure needed to form any type of weapon imaginable? That lost technology would be priceless. I have been hunting amalgams for years, hoping that one or more of you has enough of the suppressed information to formulate a complete blueprint of this biological matter converter technology. I am on the verge of completion. I hope you will be the last amalgam that I need to denature in order to complete my research." The voice explained.

"What do you mean by denature? What are you planning to do to me?" Roddy snapped.

"I am going to liquify you into a state of raw biological components so that I can completely analyze your DNA and RNA structure. That way I can find information other sampling methods would miss." The brain squid on the screen gurgled.

"And let me guess, when you get what you want you're going to sell it to the highest bidder?" Roddy snapped.

"Ohh. No. That would be foolish to let this lost technology back out into the open market. I am going to use it for myself to conquer and destroy. I will be unstoppable with a ship that can shape shift at will into any form or material needed." The voice over the intercom explained.

"You do realize that I'm not going to cooperate with this little plan of yours? When I find a way out of this gravity cell you're ass has had a bad day." Roddy growled.

The creature made that odd gurgling laugh.

"Oh, that isn't going to happen. I have searched too long for amalgams like you who have complete remnants of the DNA blueprints for the biological matter conversion technology to let it all go to waste over someone as pathetic as you. Even if you do escape my puppets will recapture you and bring you back to me." It gurgled in an amused tone.

Roddy then thought about Patricia. She didn't need to be here. It was his fault that she was taken. That sinking feeling of being responsible for someone else's nightmare began to weigh on him.

"What about the others you captured? What do you need them for? If all you want is me, then let them go. They don't have anything you need. They're just primitive planet bound simpletons. They don't even have long distance space travel." Roddy offered.

"Their protein make up is sufficient to produce my nourishment gel. Once I have denatured you I will sample the stock to determine which ones have the most desirable flavor. Then I will begin harvesting them to restock my nourishment reserves." It explained in a quite simple tone.

Chapter 8

"Burn baby burn. Strung out on a wire. Heart in a cage, your soul so full of desire. You need fast hands to deal with all the liars. Bulletproof skin to keep you alive. "

Patricia was frantic, she has been screaming until her throat burned. She had to find a way to get free. It had been a long time since those things came in and took Roddy away, and why? Where did they take him, and why did they leave her here? She would get her answer soon enough, but now how she wanted. She heard that slurping sound the door made when it dilated and four more of those things wearing suits came in. As they approached the gravitational cell reversed causing her to drop to the bottom plate. She tried to pull herself up but the force of the device was holding her down. It felt like her own body was too heavy for to move it. What happened next was the worst horror so far.

The things in the suits approached her, and they all grabbed her at the same time with that same akward uncoordinated manner. They pulled her out of the cell and began ripping off all of her clothes. Patricia knew this was her only chance to fight back. She grabbed one of them by the arm, and threw it to the floor, then began punching and kicking her way free.

She didn't know what was inside those suits but what ever it was didn't seem to have any real body shape. It felt like fighting a rough canvas diving suit packed with half cooked spaghetti noodles.

One of them grabbed her from behind and she elbowed it in the face before grabbing it by the arm and throwing it over her shoulder.

When it hit the floor the mask broke off of the hood it was attached to, and a horrible smelling filling came spilling out. It was a bright green color, thick and lumpy with strands like thin worms. What ever it was inside the suit didn't last long once the air hit it. All of the worm like strands instantly began to melt down into a sludge. There was nothing left inside the suit but a slimy film, and a simple metal frame made of rods and hinges forming a skeletal brace for the mess inside the suit to cling to.

She kept fighting them, having found a weak point. If she could just knock their masks off what ever was inside them that was making them move would spill out and decompose. Before she could break any of the other's masks the door squished open and six more came in. Now there were nine of them all surrounding her and awkwardly grabbing at her. Despite all her training and martial arts knowledge, she was over powered. They clubbed her into submission with heavy pounding smacks from their gloved hands. They didn't even have the coordination to ball a fist, or use any sort of form in their strikes. They essentially just flailed their arms hitting her however their limbs happened to land.

They lifted her up over their heads and carried her out of the room. They carried her down a long hall and then through another door. Inside this room was a large rectangular vat in the floor that almost looked like a swimming pool. She could see the other captives down in the pit, and they had all been stripped just like her. The pool was filled with a sludgy substance that looked like purred peaches. The puppets carried Patricia over and dumped her in with the rest of the captives. They then turned and walked away.

Patricia coughed spitting the horrible stuff out of her mouth. It was sickeningly sweet, and tasted almost meaty. It was the consistency of apple sauce, and a peach yellow color. As soon as she got her wits about her, she could hear a familiar voice calling her name. She looked over and saw Barbara wading through the thick gel towards her. Patricia called back and began pushing her way through the thick goo towards her.

"Oh my God! Patricia! I'm so glad to see you!" She said hugging her and not letting go.

"Oh Barbara they got you too?" Was all she could say as she clung on to her friend for comfort.

"What's going on? Where is this horrible place? They put us all in this stuff and a voice came over a speaker and told us to eat the stuff in this pool we're in. It said it would keep us alive and rid us of any parasites of diseased." Barbara asked frantically.

"I wouldn't eat it. We don't know what these things want with us. But I wouldn't trust anything they say. We have to get out of here." Patricia said looking around for a way out. The walls of the pool were too high to reach the top and pull herself up.

"Barbara do you think you can give me a boost?" Patricia said motioning to the top of the pool.

Barbara shook her head. "It's no use. We tried that. Any time anyone manages to get out more of those things in the suits come in and just throw them back in. It doesn't matter how strong you are they just over power you with numbers." She explained.

Patricia nodded feeling the black eye she had gotten trying to fight her way free. "I know.. I almost got away but more just came in until there were too many for me. What do we do?"

Barbara shrugged. "I don't know. There's a rhino named Burke, and an elephant named Eli. But even if the rest of us lifted together we couldn't get them high enough to climb out. They are tanks though, if we could just get them out maybe the two of them could fight their way free."

Patricia shook her head. "We just don't have enough people to lift a rhino or elephant that high. Besides they were put in her just like the rest of us. Those things would just keep coming until there were too many for even them to fight off." She said with doubt.

"Patrice.. we have to think of something. I don't want to die like this.. naked and covered in slime." Barbara whimpered.

"I know.. I don't want to go out like this either. Let's just calm down and think. There has to be another way than trying to fight a million of those things."

Razorback Team Six rappelled down into the darkness and cold wind onto the surface of the ship. Once they secured the landing zone the helicopter moved away. They began gathering their equipment and torches to begin trying to access the inside.

This time they weren't carrying tranquilizer darts. Instead their rifles were loaded with solid metal ones though they also had tazer darts, and tranquilizers as back up. They moved to the edge of one of the round ports that was covered with the green glassy membrane. They found that it wasn't hard like metal or glass, but rather squishy and rubbery. To their dismay their torches were completely ineffective on either the silvery metal hull, or the green membrane. The metal. which didn't heat up enough to melt. It would get hot, but just barely to a dim red glow, nowhere near as hot as it needed to be in order for the torches to cut it. The membrane was effected more than the metal. The green membrane would smoke and scorch leaving a charred black crust. However the crust would quickly flake off leaving a scar as if the material were healing itself.

John went over to the team leader Boarhaussen. "Captain, it's a no go on the torches. They just don't do anything. The team is brainstorming but so far we don't have any ideas."

"Our mission is to get in here and get the hostages out. What about the green section? Does it seem to react to anything?" He questioned.

"The torches don't work on it either. It burns but it appears to heal itself like some sort of synthetic skin." John replied.

"We know those sections open up. That is where the metal tubes came from. There must be something that it will react to that will make it open." Boarhaussen offered.

John nodded. "We do have tranquilizers. If it is like some sort of tissue maybe it will react to the tranquilizer and relax enough to be forced open. We also have tazers both hand held and dart form. We'll just start trying different things and see what it reacts to." He explained before he went back over to the rest of the team who were over at the edge of the green section of the ship's surface.

"What's the plan John?" Samuel asked looking up as John walked over.

"We know that this rubbery green section opens up. From how it reacted to the torch it appears to have properties like some sort of skin, or muscle. I think we should try tranquilizing it. Maybe that will cause it to relax and open up." John explained.

Samuel stood up. "Ok Team you heard the man. Tranquilizer dart this green section. Use everything you have. Once inside I doubt we will need them." He ordered.

They began reloading their rifles. Boarhaussen came over as he chambered a round in his own rifle. "Ok team, take aim. Fire on my count." He ordered as he also took aim. "Fire!" He called and they all began shooting tranquilizers into the membrane until all of their rifles were empty. Then they all promptly began changing out their magazines for the lethal rounds.

They waited for the darts to take effect, if it would have any effect at all. To their surprise it did. The membrane began to loosen and sag as if it were actually being numbed or put to sleep. A small hole began to open in it's center. They moved over to the opening.

"I'm surprised that worked." Samuel chuckled. "It's as if this ship is partially made from living flesh. Where in hell does something like that come from?" He gasp.

John knelt down by the hole, it was just big enough for him to get his paws in. "I don't care what part of hell it came from. It's going back if I can help it." He said trying to pull the opening wider. It stretched but was difficult. "Come on team help me force this hole wider." He called, and the others came over and all began helping him stretch the rubbery membrane open. They managed to pull the membrane open enough to squirm through one at a time. First they shoved their equipment through, then one by one they entered the ship. Once inside they found that they no longer needed their night vision to see. Only the outside of the ship was cloaked.

"Ok, Razorbacks, I want three teams of two. Ritter, you're with me. John and Samuel you're team two, Max and Roff you're team three. I'll take the north, Team two you go south. Team three I want you to secure this location. This is going to be our evac point. Let's get these hostages and get out of here before those tranquilizers wear off. Move!" Boarhaussen ordered. The razorbacks split up and began searching the ship for the hostages, making note of it's layout as they did. They found the doors on the inside were much easier to open. Off to one side of the oblong frame was usually a bubble like button ten or so inches in diameter. The door would dilate open if this bubble was pushed in. The ship itself didn't seem to have much as far as security measures. At least as far as they knew.

John and Sam kept alert as they went through the halls. As they went they opened the doors they found, and mostly empty rooms filled with alien technology. As they went through the halls finally they encountered the enemy. Those same biological automatons that the captives had to deal with. John and Sam didn't hesitate to fire. Their darts punched holes in the canvas suits letting the air in, and the puppets sagged and melted out through the holes.

They were fairly easy to destroy. You simply had to punch a hole in their suits and let the air in. Sam and John stopped and looked at what they were dealing with.

"Sam.. I don't think these things are even alive. What I mean it's not a person in this suit. It's something else. It's like a suit filled with spaghetti." John gasp.

"It doesn't do well with air does it? Notice that the stuff inside melts when air hits it." Sam noted.

John shouldered his rifle. "Sam. Let's save ammunition. If all we have to do is let the air in, I think blades would be effective. These things aren't carrying any weapons. I think we can cut them down. "

Samuel nodded agreeing as he pulled his own combat knife from his chest sheath. "Are you ready to get bad ass?" He asked.

John sort of smiled. "I have been waiting for a no reservations scenario like this. The fact that we are encountering guards must mean we are close to the hostages. Let's save these people" He said twirling his knife in his paw.

"I can definitely smell a cat somewhere. They have to be close. I'm behind you." Sam said.

They moved through the halls efficiently every door they opened, if there were any puppets they cut them down easily. Hand to hand against these slow clumsy things almost made them feel like this was going to be a cake walk. They knew they were going the right direction because the numbers of puppets were increasing as they went.

They opened another door and came into a room with a large pit in the center. They could hear voices. They moved over to the large rectangular pit in the floor and looked down. They saw the hostages cowering down in a pit of slime, using the thick liquid to hide the fact that they were all naked. Sam got pressed the transmit button on his radio which was attached to his shoulder.

"Captain we found the hostages. We are in a room to the south, just follow the trail of bodies." He announced.

"Hold your position. Team one on the way." Boarhaussen replied.

Barbara looked up hearing that familiar voice. "Samuel! Is that really you? Oh thank heaven it is! They sent a Razorback team in to rescue us! Patricia we're getting out of here!"

Patricia looked up seeing the two Razorbacks looking down at them. "What are you waiting for? Get us out of here!" She squealed.

John pulled a rope out of his pack and then looked around for something to tie one end off to. Then he dropped the other end down into the pit.

"OK everyone stay calm. We will pull you up one at a time. Everyone get in order smallest to largest." He ordered. The frantic hostages all crowded the rope at once, and John had to try to calm them down.

"Listen you're all going to be ok. But you have to calm down, and listen to me. It's going to take all of us to pull the bigger animals up so we need to you take your time, and let us pull the smaller ones up first." He explained.

"Come on Barbara, let's get you out first." Sam said as she looped the rope under her arms and Samuel pulled her up.

"Ok, the pig next, then the Polar bear, then the ox." He directed as they began pulling the others up.

John took off his shirt and handed it to Patricia.

"Here Ma'am put this on. You don't have fur to cover yourself like the others do." He said, trying not to look directly at her until she was covered.

Patricia smiled. "Thank you that's really thoughtful of you. My name is Patricia by the way." She said in a weak voice.

"I'm John. Do you feel strong enough to help us pull the others up?" He asked. Patricia nodded.

"Sam listen, we're not all the hostages. They divided us into two groups based on size. The smaller animals must be in another room somewhere."

Samuel nodded. "Don't worry, we'll find them. But first let's get this group to safety." He explained.

They all helped pull the larger animals up to safety and then they regrouped. That is when things took a turn for the worse. The familiar slurping sound announced that the door had opened. John and Sam turned expecting to see team one, but instead were more of the strange biological automatons. This time they were armed. They began firing in their typical uncoordinated manner. Their weapons could only be described as some sort of high energy plasma rifle. They fired bursts of burning blue energy that melted holes in the floors and walls as the awkwardly fired without any concept of aiming first.

John Pushed Patricia down to the floor. "Everyone get down! Take cover!" He said as he dropped to one knee between the puppets and Patricia using his own body to shield her as he shouldered his rifle and began to fire.

Patricia grabbed John's side arm. "The hell I will! I'm not going to take this laying down!" She said as she leaned out around him and began shooting.

Samuel handed Barbara his side arm. "She's right John, these two ladies are police officers. They know how to handle a gun, and we need all the help we can get!" Barbara took the weapon and began shooting.

They kept firing, but the puppets kept coming. Even though they didn't have any concept of aiming there were so many of them that soon the group was pinned down behind various pieces of machinery in a duck and shoot fire fight.

"We have to hold this position until the others get here to back us up. The game has changed this might not be as easy as we thought." John called.

"You wanted action, now you got some." Sam chuckled.

Roddy had been making a layout of the room he was in. It was some sort of genetics lab, there were large conduits and ventilation ducts running along the ceiling. Around the edges of the room were various pieces of machinery designed to experiment on, alter, and disassemble living organisms. He knew what was going to happen. Those biological robots would come back into the room soon, try to carry him over to the piece of machinery that looked a large tube where they would then attempt to melt him down into a liquid. However he had different plans. It wouldn't take much of a boost to reach the support rods holding the duct work up.

He waited, and just as he assumed it wasn't long before four of the puppets entered the room and moved over to him. They reversed the gravity cell making him drop to the lower plate. As soon as they pulled him out of the effect field he went into kill mode. One of them he tripped to the floor with his tail, then whipped it across the face mask of another in one motion. It reeled back falling as the busted face mask began spewing all of it's contents.

He managed to put some distance between himself and the other two, as the first one he snatched to the floor got back up. He anticipated which would come first, seeing that the one with the broken mask had deflated.

He engaged the first that closed in,body checking it into the other. As they fell he jumped on them for enough of a boost to leap up onto the third's shoulders. He dove upward grabbing a vent support with his tail and swinging up.

The three puppets looked up at him as more entered the room. They began making a pile, climbing over each other like ants to try and reach him. He quickly crawled down the length of the ventilation pipe until he found a register. He pulled the cover off and crawled inside escaping into the ventilation system.

Roddy crawled through the duct system looking through the air registers for one specific room. He knew this ship must have an armory, and he intended to find it. After he armed himself he planned to find the facility that was manufacturing these puppets and shut it down.

Patricia was out of darts, and the others were going to be out soon. The room was littered with deflated suits, and the weapons they were carrying. If only she could get one of them. They didn't seem to run out of ammunition like their dart guns.

"Guys Cover me!" She called. "I have an idea!" She said noticing how slippery the floor was with the melted insides from all the puppets.

Patricia waited for suppressing fire and then dove sliding across the slick floor toward a pile of deflated suits. As soon as she could reach one of the weapons on the floor, she snatched it up and began firing. It had an amazing cycle rate, and punched large fist sized holes all the way through the puppets. She dropped the first wave, and tossed the weapon back to John, as she picked up another and kept firing.

John caught the weapon, and started shooting as he stepped out from his hiding spot making his way up beside Patricia. Between the two of them they now had the puppets bottle necked at the door, dropping them before they could make it into the room.

"Keep them back from the door!" Samuel called as he ran around the side of the room avoiding all the bluish energy weapon fire. "And just don't shoot me!" He added as he dodged his way over to the door controls and punched it closing the door. He then picked up one of the alien weapons and shot the door control permanently shutting it.

"Those were some nice moves out there Patricia." John smiled. She looked back at him. "You're not so bad yourself." She mused.

"Guys, it's great that they can't get in and all.. But now we're trapped in here." Barbara noted.

In all the excitement they hadn't noticed that some of the hostages, had been hit. Eli the elephant wasn't doing so well, he had been hit in the chest, and it didn't look like he was going to make it. The polar bear was already gone. Some of the others had burns from where they were grazed by the blaster fire.

Burke knelt by his friend. "Someone help him! Don't you guys carry a medical kit? He's bleeding out!" The rhino called. The others turned and looked.

"Oh shit! John, we've lost some of the hostages!" Patricia gasp. "Do something, he's going into shock!" She said running over and applying direct pressure to the elephant's chest wound.

John ran over beside her pulling his medical kit off of the side of his leg, and opened it. "I'll do what I can but I really don't have a field dress big enough." Barbara and Samuel came over. Samuel pulled his medical kit off and handed it to John. "Here double it up with mine." He said.

"It's no use.." Eli coughed. "I'm a goner.. you guys. Get out of here.. And blow this damned place out of the sky." He gagged.

Barbara watched as Patricia kept pressure on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Her heart was pounding, and she just kept thinking about what the voice over the loud speaker told them when they were first put into the tank of sludge.

"He said to eat it... It would keep us alive and healthy..." She muttered thinking out loud.

Sam turned and gave her an odd look. "Barbara what are you talking about?" He asked hoping that she wasn't about to snap.

She shook her head. "I.. I don't know. They put us in that pool of stuff and told us to eat it. The voice said it would sterilize disease and rid us of parasites, and keep us healthy." She looked over at Patricia. She hadn't noticed it in all of the excitement, but now something caught her attention. All of the scrapes and bruises on Patricia's face were all gone, as if it all had happened weeks ago, and only some mild discoloration and light scars remained.

"Patricia! You.. your face.. It's not bruised anymore.." She blinked, that's when it all was so clear.

"Get him back into the pool! Now!" She yelled. "That stuff healed Patricia's bruises! They said it would keep us healthy! Get him back into it fast!"

The others looked at her confused.

"Don't stand there! Do it!" Barbara ordered.

They didn't question her. She seemed so sure, and besides what other choice did they have. He was loosing consciousness, so the others drug him toward the edge and rolled him in. There was a thick splash and the Elephant sank to the bottom. Around the dark shadow of his figure down in the muck, a red discoloration began to spread. They watched as it got larger and larger, then it stopped.

"Barbara... I don't think it's going to work.." Patricia said sadly.

"Wait!. Look!" Burke pointed. The red blood patch in the water was starting to disappear. Slowly you could see Eli starting to move again. After a few moments his trunk poked up out of the sludge and took a deep breath. Moments later he stood up, but was shaky. The large wound in his chest had sealed up. It was no where near healed, but it wasn't bleeding and new skin was forming on the outside. "

"Oh my god.. That is so creepy." John stammered.

"Eli! I know this is going to sound so wrong, but you have to eat some of that stuff. Eat as much as you can." Barbara called down into the pit.

The elephant didn't hesitate. Under the circumstances it made sense, if this stuff was healing him, he didn't feel so bad about what ever he had to do for it to work faster. He began slurping it up through his trunk taking big gulps.

"Wow Barbara that was quick thinking." Patricia said walking over beside her friend and looking down into the pit.

"Sam, I have an idea. I'm doing to lower you down into the pit. Anything that will hold liquid fill it up. I have a feeling we might need some of this stuff once we get out of here." John said. Sam nodded as he emptied out both of their backpacks looking for anything to fill with the strange sludge.

They lowered him down into the pit and he began filling everything that would hold liquid with the sludge. That is when Boarhaussen's voice came over John's radio.

"Team Two, I can't make it to your location. We are pinned down and taking heavy fire. Team three isn't responding to communications. Are the hostages safe? Reply."

John pressed the button on his radio. "This is team two. We have also taken heavy fire. We have casualties and have locked ourselves inside this room. The situation is stable, but we aren't doing well. We don't know how long it will be before these bastards get the door open again. We have comendeered their weapons. They are very effective, but they will overwhelm us with numbers if they ever get the door open. " He explained.

"Copy that John. We are trying to do the same. We will get there as soon as we can. Just hold your position." Boarhaussen replied.

"So that's it? We just wait?" Barbara asked in disbelief.

"What choice do we have?" Patricia replied.

Roddy kicked open the ventilation register after he watched the last of the puppets leave the arsenal room. He dropped down and began looking for what ever was left on the racks.

"Now we're talking." He mused as he browsed through the weapons. He rounded a corner and saw something that made his eyes light up. There were three racks holding light armor suits. He would prefer it had been full power assisted heavy armor, but he wasn't going to complain. He hurried to find a suit his size and began putting it on after he found one with a tail piece. Luckily for him many species had tails so suits with tail accommodations were common. Then he went back around to the weapon racks, and shouldered two rifles, and grabbed a pair of pistols plus one for his tail.

"Payback time.." He grinned as he armed the pistols and made his way to the door. He opened it and looked out into the hall. A group of puppets were walking the other way and didn't see him. He didn't hesitate, he started shooting with all three pistols mowing them down from behind. He made his way down the hall, having gotten a better idea of the ship's layout from crawling through the duct work. He headed straight for the puppet manufacturing facility. He shot down anything that got in his way, as he ran through the halls heading for his target.

Roddy opened the door to the pupped manufacturing room. He had watched how these disgusting things were made. The suits were lined on racks like clothing department. On other racks were the simple rod and hinge skeletons. The two were brought together on an assembly line. The skeleton was dropped down the neck of the suit where it expanded, then as the suit moved down the line a sprue filled them with the artificial muscle tissue and a mask was fitted on. The puppet was finally given an electric shock to activate it. All this was done inside an enclosed area void of oxygen. As they were activated they passed through an air lock to maintain the specific gas atmosphere of the assembly room.

Roddy knew just want to do to shut this little operation down. He holstered his pistols, and grabbed one of the rifles that was hung by a strap over either shoulder. He began shooting the clear divider that kept the air out of the assembly line He kept shooting blasting as many large holes as he could until he was satisfied that they wouldn't be repairing it any time soon. Then he began shooting holes in the suits for good measure.

As the air vented into the assembly like the puppets who were currently being assembled began to melt and fall to the floor before they could even begin their false facsimile of life.

He heard the door squish open without even turning around he aimed his tail gun and started shooting. He whirled around and kept shooting until the group of puppets who were coming into the room all stopped coming.

There were still a dangerous number of them roaming the halls, but now at least they wouldn't be dealing with an unending stream of them. Roddy jogged through the halls. He was looking for the room he was in originally with Patricia, but so far every cell room he checked was empty. Finally he entered another genetics lab, and what he saw made him sick. All along the walls were those familiar tubed, and in each one were the smallest of the people from Zootopia who had been taken. Many of them were nearly digested by the muck inside the tubes. He looked around frantically, but Patricia wasn't there. Not that he could do anything if she were. For a moment he was relieved. This meant maybe there was still a chance she was alive. After all it was his fault she was in this situation. If these creatures hadn't followed him here they may have never even come across this planet.

He left the room, and continued on. After rounding a bend in the hall he came up on the aftermath of a large fire fight. Many of the soaked dripping deflated puppet suits littered the hall. Someone else had escaped? Or someone else had gotten into the ship. That's when he spotted the two bodies of the Zootopia special operations agents. He recognized them. Not them specifically, but what they were. They were the same kind of guys who had chased him through the jungle, and arrested him. He walked over to inspect them, and it was a mess. By the number of dead puppets laying around they had put up a noble fight, but in the end they just couldn't handle the numbers. He stepped over one of the bodies to move on, then he stopped. There was only two of them. There had to be more, and they had to have some sort of way to communicate with one another. Roddy turned around and checked the body finding the radio attached to the corpse of Boarhaussen's shoulder.

Patricia and the others had been waiting, watching the door as they heard the puppets outside trying to force their way in. After they had pulled Eli out of the pit, he was relatively healed. He was still weak, and complaining that it was hard to breathe. But he was alive and breathing, which is better condition than he was in before. Now however they could see pulses of light through the semi translucent membrane that was the door. The puppets were trying to shoot their way in. They stayed hidden behind anything they could with their weapons pointed at the doors waiting for it to finally give way. That's when an unfamiliar voice came over John's radio. One he didn't recognize.

"Is anyone left alive out there? Reply!" The voice over the radio questioned. John almost jumped in shock, and instantly replied.

"Who is this!? How did you get in on this channel?" He questioned.

"I hate to break it to you, but some of your guys didn't make it. I found them in the corridors, not looking so good. Listen, we're on the same side. How many of you are left?" The voice questioned.

Patricia's ears perked up. She had been staying close to John since they came in and rescued her and the hostages. She recognized that voice.

"Bright eyes! Is that you? You're alive!" She called grabbing John's radio.

"Piglet! Wow! You're still kicking! I'm glad to know that. Listen I put a stop on all these things being pumped out on an assembly line, but there's still a lot of them around. Where are you?"

"You know this guy? Who is he?" John asked looking at Patricia.

"His name is Roddy, he's one of the prisoners I was guarding." She answered.

"Wait! He's the Tujunga beast? That alien that crashed before all this started?" Barbara snapped.

"He's on our side, and he's not a beast!" Patricia snapped back.

John pulled his radio back. "I remember you. Listen, we're locked in a... room.. There are a ton of those things outside and we don't have the fire power to shoot it out with them if they get in this time."

"Ok. I'll try to find you. Just stay put." Roddy replied and then dropped the radio and started running through the halls.

He had the idea that his best way to find them was follow the trail of deflated puppets. That mode of thinking didn't lead him wrong. Soon he could hear weapons fire. He peeked out around a bend in the hall and saw a group of forty or more puppets all taking turns firing at a door, which was nearly blasted through. He took a deep breath, what ever was so important in that room they they had to get in must be important for him to stop them.

Roddy slowly leaned out from the bend in the hall. He knew as soon as he began shooting they would all be focused on him. He pulled the visor down on his armor. All he could hope is that it would hold up. There was nowhere to hide and nothing to take cover behind. This was going to be fourty guns against three, and he was the only one holding the three. He took a deep breath. Little piglet was counting on him.

For the first time in his life anyone other than himself was counting on him. Patricia had protected him, tried to be his friend. She didn't treat him like everyone else did. He couldn't let her down now. Even if the numbers were against him. He stepped out from around the hall and began shooting, both pistols and his tail gun. Their poorly aimed shots sparked off the armor plate. At least it was effective. Despite each hit felt like getting hammered by a sledge hammer. He kept shooting until his postols were drained then grabbed one of the rifles hung over his shoulder and kept shooting. Holding his ground as the shots sparked off the armor, causing it to heat up and melt spattering little bits of hot ceramic as he was pounded by weapon fire. Roddy couldn't stay on his feet anymore and dropped down to one knee. There was no where to take cover so he just hoped the armor would hold out as he was pelted with plasma blasts.

He kept firing as the visor began to crack, and finally shattered. He swapped out his last full weapon and kept shooting as they slowly wore him down. He slumpt against the wall to keep himself propped up firing relentlessly. He wasn't going to give up until they killed him. That would be better than being part of some insane experiment to take over the universe.

Inside the room they could hear the weapons fire, and see the flashes through the almost destroyed door, but at least they weren't shooting the door. The flashes and blaster sounds seemed to go on forever.

"What's going on out there? Why aren't they trying to get in anymore?" Barbara questioned.

"The other Razorbacks. They must have found us." Burke noted.

Samuel shook his head. "No the other razorbacks are dead. That's someone else."

Patricia smiled. "It's bright eyes." Was all she said quietly.

"You really trust this guy?" John then questioned. "I darted him in Tujunga. I'm the one that brought him in. And it wasn't easy. Are you sure he's on our side?" He asked.

Patricia looked at John and nodded assuredly. "I have seen real criminals. He isn't like that. I have to say it. I trust him." She nodded.

"Yeah but is he really that bad ass? I mean these things took out almost an entire team of razorbacks. And you think this one guy is going to save us?" Samuel questioned skeptically, as the flashes outside the mostly destroyed door continued.

"I hope so.. What other chance do we have?" Was all Patricia could offer.

After another minute or two all of the flashes outside the door slowly stopped. The membrane was so thin they could see the shadow move in front of it. They watched as it fell forward against the door which stretched, and finally popped open.

Roddy fell face first in the doorway. Many parts of his armor still red hot, other parts completely worn through. As he fell through the shredded door into the room it was obvious that he had taken heavy damage to secure the location. He wasn't conscious as he lay there with his armor smoldering and smoking. On the positive side of things, there wasn't a single puppet left standing.

Patricia was the first to run over. She tried to pick him up, but the ceramic based armor covering him was too hot to touch. She looked down at him and could see steam coming from him. Steam that smelled like blood. As Roddy bled the heat of his armor was boiling it into steam. He was cooking inside the red hot armor suit.

"Get him in the pool!" She called. "Someone help me!" She yelled in a hoarse voice as she grabbed Roddy's tail and began trying to pull him toward the pool.

Barbara and John ran up to her side, grabbing Roddy by any part of him that wasn't too hot to touch. They dragged him over to the edge of the pool and rolled him in. A massive cloud of steam rose up from the pool when he thickly splashed down into it. They watched him sink to the bottom as steam bubbles rose up from the sludge. Barbara turned and looked back at the door which was torn and permanently hanging open.

"The door is gone. What if more of those things come?" She noted in a frightened tone.

John looked at Sam, and they both went to the door and looked out into the hall. For the moment it was clear, just a mess of littered pupped suits. They began gathering the weapons that lay on the floor making a stockpile in the room.

"If they come back, we do what we have been doing. Bottle neck them at the door and keep shooting. " Samuel said.

Barbara picked up a fresh weapon. They had learned that these alien weapons like their own had a finite number of shots, registered by a single light on the side that changed colors. They had figured out that yellow for what ever reason was the empty color, while purple was full. After purple was blue, so they collected all of the rifles showing purple or blue. Some of them watched the door while some of them watched the pool. The minutes ticked by agonizingly slow, while they just waited, not even sure what they were waiting for.

"What about him? He's been down in that stuff a long time now. Do you think we were too late?"Barbara finally asked.

Patricia stared down into the pool. Roddy had been down there for a while now, more than eight minutes. It takes about three for someone to drown if they aren't getting air. The bubbles had stopped for several minutes and she could see his dark silhouette at the bottom of the pool. She turned sad. In her mind it was over, he just didn't make it.

"I... don't think he made it.." She said quietly.

Thats when she heard the thick pop of a bubble. Then she heard another. She turned and saw a big bubble work it's way up from the shadow and splatter on the surface above Roddy. Then she saw him move down under the sludge. Before she could even bring attention to the others Roddy splashed up through the liquid. He was coughing and trying to pull his ruined armor off.

"Roddy!" Patricia called and leapt down into the sludge with him.

"Get this shit off of me! It's burning my fur off!" He yelled pulling at the latches on his armor.

Patricia started pulling at the pieces of still hot armor.

"I can't believe you're alive! How? You should be dead." She asked shocked. John Barbara and the others came over to the edge of the pool looking down as Patricia helped Roddy strip down to his boxer shorts.

"Really good armor goes a long way." He explained simply in a tired sigh as he dropped the last of the still steaming armor.

"Where did you find that? We sure could use a couple suits of those." Samuel said amused.

"No Hell NO!" Roddy protested. "You guys are going to get the hell out of here while you have a chance."

"What about the other hostages?" Barbara asked concerned.

Roddy looked down. "They didn't make it." Was all he said sparing them the details.

Patricia put a concerned hand on his shoulder. "But.. What about you? What are you going to do?" She asked.

Roddy narrowed his eyes and growled in a low hiss. "I'm going to find the freak that's running this creep show and put him in a hurt locker." He vowed.

An amused smirk crept across John's snout. "Sounds like a plan to me." He then turned to Samuel. "Sam, I want you to get the rest of the hostages to the evac point and make sure they all get out safely. I'm going with bright eyes here and make sure this mission is a success."

Samuel Nodded. Now that Boarhaussen was gone John was officially the ranking officer.

"Sir, yes sir." Samuel smiled. He then turned to the group. "Everyone, grab a weapon and let's go. We don't know how many more of those things are left out there so be alert. We're getting out of here."

Patricia looked up from the pit. "I'm not going.. I'm staying with you and Roddy." She said looking directly at John. He could tell by the look in her eyes there was no point in arguing with her.

"Patricia! What are you saying? Come on let's get out of here while we can!" Barbara protested.

Patricia shook her head. "No..I'm staying with John and Roddy." She said sternly.

Samuel put a hand on Barbara's shoulder. "Come on, we don't have time to argue about this. Besides I'm going to need you to help me get these people out of here." he said.

Barbara looked back and forth between her friends, and finally gave in. She nodded. "Patricia.. you had better make it out of here." She said.

Patricia looked up at her. "Don't worry. I'm going to make sure we put an end to this. Barbara I need you to get those people to safety." She said with steel resolve.

Barbara took a deep breath and nodded. She then looked at Samuel. "Let's not waste any time then." She said lifting her weapon. He nodded.

"Ok people! Let's go, I'll take point. Barbara you cover us from behind. Everyone keep alert." Samuel ordered as he began walking toward the shredded door.

John lowered the rope and pulled Patricia and Roddy out of the pit as the others went off to make their way back to the evacuation point.

Roddy searched the collection of weapons for more pistols. He liked them more than rifles. They didn't pack as much of a punch but between dual wielding, and using one in his tail he could put more shots in the air. However he was smart enough to sling a rifle over each shoulder just like before as backup.

"What's the plan spaceman?" John Asked watching Roddy, who seemed to have been through this kind of thing before.

"Well.. first thing.." He took off his boxer shorts and threw them to Patricia. "I'm covered in fur.. Besides all my junk is internal until I gotta use it. You need these more than me right now." He sort of smirked with an amused chuckle. Fact is John's shirt was just barely covering her, and in all the excitement there wasn't time to worry about running around mostly naked.

Patricia gave him a dirty look but put them on anyway. "Ok.. You have a point, but so does John. What exactly are you planning to do?" She asked pulling the men's underwear on.

"Well I'm going to find out where the bastard running this ship is hiding, send him to hell, then I'm going to take control of this ship." Roddy explained.

"Hey man.. I have two backpacks full of explosives. Why don't we just find the thing powering this ship and blast it into oblivion?" John suggested.

Roddy shook his head sternly. "Bad BAD! Idea. You seen what happened when my hyper core exploded. It was only like twelve feet long by four feet wide. This ship's core is at least ten times that big, probably more. If you breach it, then you're looking at the kind of explosion that could split this planet in half. I've seen bombs half as powerful that could set an atmosphere on fire. No that is NOT a good plan." He explained with a tone of absolute certainty.

"So we're going to have to mount an assault on the control room with three people and just a few weapons?" John questioned skeptically.

"John has a point. We don't know how many of those things are still out there, and none of us are wearing this super armor stuff you had. It just doesn't seem possible." Patricia added.

"I understand it's a pretty slim chance. But trust me, you do not want this thing to explode any closer than several million miles from your planet. Even just outside the atmosphere would still set the entire surface of the planet on fire. We have to bring thing thing down without blowing it up." Roddy said holding his ground.

Under the circumstances they had to admit that he knew what he talked about. He was from a place out there in the starts where knowledge of how these space ships worked was as common as someone knowing how to give their car a tune up. Sure not everyone knew how, but the information was readily available to anyone who wanted to learn.

"Ok.. Fine, so blowing up the planet just to get rid of this thing isn't an option. What do you suggest then?" John asked.

Roddy smiled. "Well, to be honest that armor worked so well I was thinking of going and getting another set. It's just down the hall a little way. Don't you think we all need a change of clothes? Hell I'm naked and trust me, I'm not down with that."

"I don't mind.." Patricia teased in a sarcastic tone. John gave her an odd look.

"Really? You actually said those words out of your mouth?" He scoffed.

Patricia looked at him with a grin, then back to Roddy. She struck a sultry pose.

"Take me spaceman!" She giggled.

Roddy quirked a brow. "Oh... that's funny... you're funny.." he humphed in an amused tone.

He didn't take her seriously at all. He knew what she was doing, and there was nothing wrong with lightening the mood. She was quoting that movie from the other night that he was watching while in prison before the entire world fell apart. He could tell she was doing it to tease John more than him. Girls could be coy like that, they would flirt with a guy they had no intension of dating so that they could see how the person they really wanted would react to it.

"Ok.. let's get serious. The armory? Which way is it?" John snapped redirecting the situation. Patricia gave a coy smile amused that it was actually getting to John. Fact is she thought he was awesomely hansom, and she loved a take charge kind of guy. Sure Roddy had the most amazing eyes, and as it turns out he's a truly decent guy, but she was just not trying to date an alien. Especially not after all of this. There was something about John that just hit her instantly. For one he was a pig like her, well a boar but it was close enough, and he had a hero's spirit. That was something she loved more than pretty eyes. Roddy wasn't a hero. He wouldn't do this kind of thing for a living. He was just put in a situation where he had to act heroically. At least he didn't just save his own ass and forget about them. That was commendable and told her that he had a good heart. But Patricia needed a hero.

"Yeah. Follow me." Roddy said readying his pistols as he walked toward the door.

Chapter 9

"Yes I know the secrets of the iron and mind. They're trinity acts and mineral fire. Yes I know the secrets of the circuitry mind. It's a flaming wonder telepath."

Samuel and the hostages had made it to the evacuation point, and waited as the helicopter came. They loaded as many on the chopper as it would hold, and that first group left for safety. Samuel and the last three hostages boarded the second chopper, and flew off into the night sky.

"You're Razorback 3 aren't you? The attending officer in the helicopter asked.

Samuel nodded. "Sir yes sir." He replied.

"At ease soldier. What happened in there?" The panther questioned.

"The stuff of nightmares." Was all Samuel said.

"Well, it's over now.. You and the hostages are safe. You are a hero to Zootopia." The panther noted.

But was it really over, Samuel wondered. John was still in there, and Patricia. Then there was this alien, Roddy. Could the three of them really bring this thing down safely? Could they end this without destroying the entire world they knew? He thought to himself

He just stared at the floor knowing his best friend was still inside there, facing who knows what. But at least now all the remaining hostages were safe. His mission was over. Once they had landed and all the hostages were taken into the infirmary for treatment, Samuel was taken to a debriefing room alone. Barbara was safe in the infirmary. He was glad of that.

"Soldier. I know you went through hell in there. But you got the captives out safe. Now it's your duty to tell us what happened. " The panther explained in a quiet voice.

He was too tired to hold back any truth. That wasn't how he was trained to begin with. He told them everything he had seen and learned on that horrible alien ship. He especially told them about the furred lizard who had saved them when all hope was lost. He told about Patricia, and Barbara's bravery. He told them how they fought just as hard as any of the Razorbacks, and how Patricia stayed behind to make sure they stopped this thing floating above their city. He told them that despite what everyone may think, that furred lizard named Roddy was just as much of a hero as any of them were. If it wasn't for him none of them would have made it out alive.

While they were inside the ship had moved it's position several times. It finally settled right above Zootopia's city center. The city below was in a state of shock and panick as the ZPD did everything they could to keep the situation under control.

"So Razorback 2 is still inside, and he is being aided by a prison guard, and an alien? Their mission is to destroy this thing?" He asked.

Samuel shook his head. "No.. The alien, Roddy, said it was too dangerous to destroy it. Their plan neutralize it's captain and take control of it." He explained.

"Do you think there is a chance they will be successful?" The debriefing officer questioned.

Samuel nodded. "John is the best Razorback I have ever seen, and this alien Roddy, he has experience. Patricia is tough, and skilled. John has the resolve and bravery of steel. If anyone can accomplish this I think they can." he said with true admiration.

"So you are suggesting that we wait this out?" The panther questioned.

"I am saying give them an honest chance." Samuel answered.

Roddy lead them down the halls back toward the armory. There were some straggling puppets, but it appeared that most of them had been shot down. Unless they were all congregating around the control room in an effort to protect their master. They entered the armory, and Roddy showed them around.

"Rifles down that hall, pistols on the other. The armor is over here." He explained pointing in different directions.

"Seeing what that armor can do, that's what I'm interested in." John said walking down by the racks of armor looking for something that would fit him. Roddy and Patricia followed, browsing the armor.

"I don't see why with all this armor, the things out there are made out of such weak canvas suits." Patricia mused. "It's as it who ever is controlling this place is saving all this for something else." She pondered.

"Hey, watch what you say. We don't want to give this thing any ideas." Roddy replied picking out a suit.

Patricia looked at him and nodded. "You have a point. He's probably been watching and listening to our every move." she said looking at a suit that was close enough to her size.

"It's as if this ship itself is kind of alive. Or at least parts of it." John added.

Roddy nodded. "I think you're right about that. I have never seen anything like that before but I have heard that things like this exist. I'm guessing that it's controlled by some sort of direct brain link interface."

"It's really strange out there in space isn't it?" Patricia questioned.

"Dangerous would be a better word." Roddy said dryly.

"So when we kill this thing, and no one is controlling the ship. What do you suppose will happen?" John asked.

Roddy just shrugged. "There's no way to know. We will just have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Ok that's fine. But you don't strike me as someone who blindly crossed bridges. Do you think you can take control of this ship?" John asked sternly.

"I at least intend to try. If I can't.. Well.. That might be a disaster. But honestly we're in a situation where we have more possibilities for disaster than we do happy endings." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"I can't let this thing destroy Zootopia." John replied.

"I don't want it to either. All the blood on my hands right now deserved what they got. I'm not trying to have innocent blood on my conscious." Roddy said.

"Just give me a chance to make this all right is all I ask." He then added.

John looked at him. He didn't say anything but he gave a slight nod.

"Well I'm going to go around this corner over here and figure out how to put this thing on. I think you guys have seen your fair share of me naked for one night." Patricia said carrying the suit around the corner which was quite heavy. It weighed about as much as she did. She wondered how she would even be able to move in it.

They watched her carry the suit around the corner, then turned back to look at each other momentarily. They looked at each other sizing one another up as guys tend to do. Roddy was that toned athletic kind of muscular, where as John was just plain buff like a body builder. John wasn't sure if he could trust this guy yet, but he wanted to know what he was up against if they had to fight it out. After their short stare down they began slipping into the armor suits which were like plate armor attached to a diving suit.

Roddy began putting his armor on as he explained how it worked. "It will shrink to fit when you connect the two halves of the breastplate. So don't worry if it's a little big on you at first. It will adjust. It sort of supports it's own weight, but it isn't power assisted so don't expect it to give you super strength or anything like that."

John nodded sort of giving him a jealous look. "So.. you really like her huh? I know it was her you came back for." He sort of smirked quietly.

"Who? Patricia?" Roddy scoffed taken off guard by the sudden jealousy. "Yeah I like her, but not like what you are suggesting. Sure she's kind of an interesting character, but I'm an amalgam she's a pig. I'm not attracted to her like that. I'm just paying back how well she's treated me. So yes of course I came back for her. What kind of asshole would I be to abandon the only person who treated me decent since I crashed on this planet?"

"I see how she looks at your eyes. Do you really think she's being so nice for no reason?" He continued.

"I don't think it's the reason you're making it out to be. I think she just has a soft spot for hard luck cases. And I'm not sure what her thing about my eyes is. I can't help what my eyes look like, or what a girl thinks about them. " He said shaking his head as he activated the auto sizing on his suit. Then he pulled the helmet off the rack.

"Besides, you have to see it my way." He continued. "Even if I did like her.. I just couldn't do it. There aren't many of my kind left out there. It would be a disservice to my species to not be with another amalgam. So that's what I'm saving myself for. Someone who can help me repopulate my kind. You don't know what it feels like to be almost extinct. But.. I think about these things. It's important for me to be with another amalgam." He explained in a harsh dismissive tone.

John eyed him. "So you don't mind if I make a play for her?" He smirked.

"Well if you're going to just take advantage of her when she's vulnerable, then yeah. I do mind." Roddy snapped.

"See you do care about her." John replied.

"Dude there's a difference between caring about someone and being in love with them. Besides what the hell does this have to do with our situation?" Roddy corrected.

"You have a point. Truth is I have been wanting to meet a girl like her for a long time. She seems like someone that could really get to know me. You have to understand being a Razorback isn't the easiest job, and not many of my past girlfriends were cool with what I do for a living. Patricia seems impressed by it, and I'm impressed by her. She has skills. She could even be a razorback. I just don't want to compete with a bad ass alien tough guy with godly beautiful eyes." He chuckled.

"Look you are both a lot alike in your personalities and you're both pigs. I get that, and it works for you. You have my blessing, really you do. But I think it would be really low to use a stressful situation just to get some cheap one night stand or whirlwind romance that ends as fast as it starts from her. She deserves better than that." Roddy said.

"That wasn't what I was planning. I was kind of hoping it could be something more long term." John explained.

"Well you're going to have to see how she feels about that, because it has nothing to do with me. I can't answer that for you. I've only known her a week or two myself, so I don't know what she's looking for. We've just been paling around. It's not like we ever got into any real deep conversations." He explained.

John nodded. "Well it's nothing personal. I just wanted to clear the air. The truth is you earned my respect with that save earlier. I'll be putting that in my report. I'll do what I can to try to keep you from going back to prison when all this is over." He said.

"Duly noted.." Roddy replied dryly.

"What are you guys talking about?" Patricia asked suspiciously as she came back around the corner. She had figured the armor out on her own, but pigs were known to be pretty smart.

Roddy just grabbed his weapons and walked out into the hall. Patricia watched him go without saying a word, and became concerned.

"Were you two arguing or something? Because this isn't the time or place for macho male egos." She said putting her hands on her hips and eying John.

"It's nothing like that." He answered. "I just had some questions about what he was doing here, what his plans were. Just some things I was wondering about." He explained in a vague way.

"Well you two had better not be fighting. We need to be a team here if this is going to work." She snapped.

"We're cool. Trust me." John assured her. "Come on.. Don't tell me now that you know he's from somewhere out there in space there aren't things you want to ask him? I just honestly wondered what all this means for our future."

Patricia looked at John, and she could tell by how he was looking at her that he wasn't talking about the future of Zootopia or what life in space was like. He meant their future, him and her. She wondered that too. She had never met a pig like him before. Even if he was a boar, technically he was still a pig. They could still have children together. It wasn't like a fox being with a rabbit.

"Well.. We can't know that until we're safe and all this is over. But I think our future is what we make it." Patricia said quietly calling his bluff, and answering his real question.

John smiled. That was the answer he was hoping to hear.

"Hey pigs in a blanket.. We have alien warlords to kill and planets to save. Let's wrap this up ok?" Roddy gave joking smirk looking back through the door.

Patricia looked over at him shyly, then back to John with a coy smile. "I guess he's jealous now huh?" She giggled.

"I think he's more worried about getting revenge for almost being melted down and experimented on." John laughed.

"We shouldn't keep him waiting then. Are you ready for this?" Patricia smiled.

"Hey this kind of thing is my job. Are YOU ready is the big question." John replied.

"Me? I didn't stay with you guys to be bored by small talk." Patricia smirked.

John looked at her with a smile. "Let's go save Zootopia then."

They met Roddy in the hall, he flicked his tail pointing. "I have a feeling it's this way." He said, even though he wasn't sure. However he had a feeling on a ship like this, with it's spherical shape the control room would be as close to the protected center as possible.

The three of them went through the halls until they found an elevator lift. They got inside and looked at the controls. Rather than floor numbers there was a sort of ship map, with buttons over the different ship locations the lift could take them to.

"John.. What do you think?" Roddy asked.

"I think we need to get close to the center. That would be the most strategically sound place to have the help of a ship of this size." He noted pointing to a button that would take them closest to the center.

"I agree. That's where I would put it if I had designed this thing. " Roddy replied.

"Guys... we're about to walk into a hornet's nest aren't we?" Patricia commented.

They both looked at her. Then they looked at each other.

"Don't worry Patricia. I'll never leave you behind." John offered.

Patricia looked at him and smiled. Then she looked at Roddy.

"I'll take care of the technical details. This shit is a little over my head too.. But.. I'm not leaving you two in the dark. If things go south, I want you two to get the hell out of here OK?" He offered.

"Roddy.. we're not leaving you." Patricia said sternly.

"Look dammit.. You may have to. If it's one of us, or all three of us. Isn't it better that you two get out? I was never meant to be here. I crash landed, and brought all this trouble with me. And I will be damned to hell and burn if I'm letting you two fallow me to hell if that's what it comes to." He growled.

John looked at him. "Roddy you're a noble man. We're going to make sure it doesn't come to that."

"He's right. We're not leaving you Roddy." Patricia added.

"Fuck that! You two listen to me. All three of us are not going down with this ship. You two can have a beautiful future together. You are so much alike, I can see that. It's like two pieces of a puzzle finally found each other. I would be such an asshole to let that be destroyed. You have to promise me. When I say get out, you have to get out." He commanded. They could tell how serious he was.

"When the time comes, I'll get her out. Even if I have to drag her out kicking and screaming." John answered despite Patricia's dirty look.

"Bright eyes..." Patricia began. Then she just threw her arms around him and hugged him. "I don't know what you came here for. Or if you even meant to end up here. But as far as I am concerned.. you're a hero." She said.

Roddy gently pushed her off. "No.. John's the hero. I'm just a guy who's trying to survive." he said quietly.

Patricia let go and looked at John. She smiled. Maybe he was the hero. After all he chose to be here. He chose to come in and rescue them. He chose to stay, just like she had chose to stay. He was here to make sure Zootopia was safe when all of this was over. He chose this, Roddy was forced into this. Both of them were brave, but it was a different kind of brave for someone to choose to put themselves In risk for others, as opposed to someone who was protecting themselves and had the heart to protect others while they were at it.

The lift stopped. Roddy looked at John. "Are you ready?" He asked. John Nodded. "Let's do this spaceman." He replied.

They opened the doors to the lift, and as soon as they did they were met with a volley of plasma blasts. It looked like they had found the hornet's nest. They all began firing, John paused to reach over and push Patricia's protective visor down over her face, then turned and continued firing. He watched Roddy leap out into the hall with reckless abandon firing and meleeing with his tail pistol whipping the crowd of puppets.

John wasn't going to let Roddy show him up. He ran out into the hall firing and tusking the pile of puppets that clogged the hall. Before they could even look back Patricia was there working her way up in front of both of them rolling and dodging. She was grabbing puppets by the arms and shoulders and flipping them and throwing them to the floor then shooting them while they were down. She came with such energy and ferocity that it gave them both a pause. Wow this girl really knew her stuff.

They worked their way in beside her and hammered against the crows. It was like three officers against an entire mob. As they surrounded them Roddy used his tail pistol to blast down the ones that were trying to get behind them. As the three of them drew closer together they took a back to back position firing and meleeing their way through the packed hall of puppets. When one weapon was empty they snatched another up off the floor. If it weren't for the armor they would have all long be dead by now. They kept fighting and shooting, running off of pure adrenaline at this point.

It was probably only a few fierce minutes but to them it felt like an eternity. Luckily for them the puppet's aim was so bad that just as many of them were shot in the back by their own numbers as was shot by them. Finally they were the only ones standing in the hall. Gasping for breath, hearts pounding, like a base drum beating right in their ears.

Before them lay one large door at the end of the hall. All of them had smoking armor. Their sweat dripped as if they had just jumped in a lake. There it was. This had to be the control room. They stood in front of the door.

"It's not going to be this easy is it? We just walk in?" Patricia asked.

"Easy? After all of that? Are you some sort of glutton for punishment?" Roddy scoffed.

"Hey it's now or never." John added as he waked up and punched the door control.

To all of their surprise the door opened. They stood in the doorway of a huge room that looked like a concert hall, at least in size. There were shelves in rows from floor to ceiling, and they were filled with these brain like things in jars. Each of them were connected to a bank of wires that were all funneled toward a single wall which was a mass of cables all leading to a much larger container. It was about three feet around by three feet high. Inside it was that same creature that Roddy had seen over the video screen. The same creature who had divulged it's entire plan to him just before he escaped into the duct work. Around his large head was a ring that appeared to be connected to the machinery. Obviously the mechanism that he was controlling the ship through.

Roddy pushed himself in front of the others, and began to speak in the common language of the nebula.

"I told you that I was coming to kill you! You son of a bitch you've had a bad day now!" He growled with his armor still smoking.

"You monsters! You won't get away with this!" the beast in the jar gurgled. "There are others like me! If you kill me you will be making an enemy that you will regret!" It threatened. Roddy ran up to the tank pushing all three of his pistols against the glass.

"How does it feel for you to be the one held at gunpoint? How does it feel to know that there is no mercy for you?!" He growled in common.

"You can't control this ship. If you destroy me there will be nothing stopping this ship from reclaiming it's nature and destroying everything that exists."

"What are they saying? Why doesn't he just shoot already?!" Patricia asked looking at john.

"I don't know. How could I know?" John replied. "Roddy just shoot it! Let's finish this!" He then shouted.

Roddy looked back at them, and then at the creature in the tank of murky liquid.

"I'm done talking. It's time for me to make good on my promise." Roddy sneered.

He then began firing into the tube. His pistol blasts began to heat up the tank, then the front of it shattered out. After than there was nothing stopping the plasma from ripping the creature to sheds. It screamed as the pistol fire burned through it's body until there were only pieces of it left hanging from the tubes, cables and wires that connected it inside the tank of now spilled liquid.

"So.. that's it? It's over?" Patricia asked quietly.

"What about this ship? I don't see how you can fly something that was connected directly to that thing's brain." John noted.

Roddy walked over to the the busted tank of splattered alien, and grabbed the telepathic control ring, and shook the remaining piece of the little monster's head out of the ring.

"There's only one way to find out if I can figure out how to fly it.. Just in case I can't. I think you two should consider getting the hell out of here." He said as he shook the last of the brain bits off of the control ring.

"Bright eyes.. What if you can't? What if it just crashes?" Patricia asked concerned watching Roddy lift the control ring up above his head, and hesitate before putting it on.

"Then I'll try to crash it somewhere that won't destroy the city in the process." He shrugged and then dropped the control ring on his head.

Patricia and John watched as Roddy began to shake and fell back against the broken tank of goop. His eye rolled back in his head and his nose instantly began to bleed.

For Roddy it was a chaotic experience. So much information was coming to him so fast. He could feel the ship, he could hear it's thoughts. It in fact was alive, and very evil. He began to try to ignore the thoughts of the ship whispering to him, trying to make him want to destroy this planet.

"So much power.. I can eat worlds, it could all be yours if you give yourself over to my will." The ship whispered in Roddy's mind. He fought it. He didn't want that kind of power. He didn't want to be a zombie to this machine. He began searching through all of the schematics, and technical information he could trying to figure out how the ship functioned. It was then that he realized what all those half formed heads in the jars along the walls were. They were partial clones of the ship's previous owner. He had made copies of himself, just functional enough to provide him with the telepathic power to control the ship. It was like batteries connected in a parallel circuit to boost the voltage, and Roddy's mind just wasn't strong enough. He had to manufacture more of those brain batteries to boost his telepathic power in order to gain control.

He began searching through the control commands of the ship seeing what his mind was strong enough to use.

Outside of the mental control room inside Roddy's head, Patricia and john watched worried. The lights were flickering, and there was an audible groan coming from the ship. They could feel it shaking and drifting from side to side like a large boat on a rough sea.

"It's killing him!" Patricia gasped, and took a step toward Roddy reaching for the control ring. John grabbed her by the elbow.

"Wait.. Just give him a chance. Trust him. He knows more about this stuff than we do." He protested.

"But there's blood all over him, and the ship is going crazy! What part of that is good?" Patricia protested.

John looked at her. Quite frankly he was wondering if it was time to get out of here. There was nothing they could do from this point on except save themselves. From where they were it wasn't looking good. But if this ship was alive like they speculated Roddy would have to fight it to be in control. Even he wasn't sure what to do. If Roddy couldn't control the ship, it was likely their planet would destroyed. What would be the point in escaping now, only to suffer the end of their world later? If they stayed, what would happen to them? That was just as questionable.

"Well you're not going to leave him. I see that. But we still have to think about what is going to happen to Zootopia if he can't control this ship. We can't just blow it up, And it's not going to just go away on it's own. We can't leave, and we can't stay. We just have to wait." John explained.

"But it's killing him." Patricia whimpered.

"He's not breathing so hard. He's not shaking anymore. Just wait for a minute." He said, not even sure if it was the right thing to say.

Inside Roddy's mind he was trying everything he could to get more mind power. He had found the commands to reconstruct from genetic blueprints a lot of different things. He found another room in the ship layout where he could connect additional brain batteries. He sent the orders in to manufacture the batteries. He knew that if he just had more brain batteries, the pull of the ship's will would weaken. Then he could control it. However someone had to connect these psionic batteries to the circuit. He only hoped that John and Patricia were still there on the outside to help him.

As he searched for the blueprints for the telepathic batteries, and frantically sent out commands to every biological manufacturing facility on the ship, he didn't realize he had sent out a command to manufacture a completely different set of saved blueprints along with the the stack of psionic batteries. However he just couldn't help a few mistakes. This wasn't exactly like looking at commands on a screen or heads up display. It wasn't as simple as pressing a button. To him he was simply floating disembodied in a dark foggy void filled with voices and impressions wrestling with separating his thoughts from the thoughts of something else. At the moment something else's thoughts were louder. It was like trying to keep track of what you were thinking while someone was screaming at you trying to keep you too distracted to think. All he could hear was how badly it wanted to charge the power banks to fire it's weapon. A weapon that went out in all directions at once like an expanding bubble of doom burning anything it touched for hundreds of thousands of miles. He just wanted for Patricia and John to hear him, to somehow tell them that they had to go find the brain batteries, and bring them to this room so they could connect them to the empty slots on the shelves.

John held Patricia back for just a moment longer. Just long enough it seemed. Suddenly the intercom system cracked and a distant faded voice came over the speaker. It sounded as if it were struggling to be heard.

"I need help... I need the brains to come of this room. I wish they could hear me, but I can't.. I can't move, I can't stop fighting this monster.. I need them to get the brains from the lab and bring them to this room." Roddy's static muffled thoughts were translated over the intercom.

Patricia stopped pulling away from John and looked at him.

"That.. that's Roddy.. He's talking through the speakers? What is he talking about? What does he mean he needs brains?"

John let go of Patricia's arm and shook his head looking at her with a confused expression.

"I don't know... He sounds so weak and confused. But we have to figure this out. He needs something.. He needs us to do something for him.. Bring the brains to this room? What does that mean?" He replied.

Patricia thought for a moment as she just stared around the room. Then it dawned on her what she was looking at. All around the room were jars of brain like structures connected to the machenery, but there were many spaces unfilled where more could go.

"Wait.. Look around the room. There are like... brains, in jars.. They must have something to do with controlling the ship, but a lot of them are missing. You don't think he wants us to find more of them do you?" She pondered gesturing toward the walls.

"Patricia... you're pretty sharp! I think that's it. When we were talking earlier he mentioned that this ship was controlled by your mind. Maybe his mind isn't as strong as the other alien, so he needs more of these things connected to the walls to be able to control the ship?" John replied

"That must be what he means by bring the brains to this room. So that means there must be more of them somewhere else on the ship." Patricia noted.

"Come on! Let's go, every second we wait is another second this ship could fall out of the sky." She added feeling the ship get less and less stable by the moment.

They went back out into the hall. At least there were no more of those puppets to deal with, but now the lights were flickering and the ship was rocking back and forth and quaking and groaning. They had a hard time staying on their feet. They searched all of the rooms they came across until they found a room that was quite different from the ones with the gravitational cells, or pits full of nutrient goop. This one was an even more advanced biological manufacturing lab than the one Roddy had first seen.

There were groups of metal tentacles attached to round pods that floated where ever they were needed. They were busy going around the room from one section to another. In one section there was a large tube filled with a translucent pink liquid. Inside it were tiny probes stirring and directing the liquid as it clumped. The probes were forming the clumps into the shape of those brain things. Once it was formed, one of the floating tentacle pods would come over and remove it then take it over to a rack of the jars they connected to. The jars would move from the rack on a conveyor belt over to a spout that would fill them with the nutrient goo. The brain would be put inside, where the tentacle pod would then reach in and connect the wires and cables before putting the assembled psionic battery on a table. There were several of them already made. The brains in the jars looked just like the alien they had killed, except smaller, and with no tentacles, and vestigial pits where their eyes would have gone.

"Oh.. this place is so disgusting.. I think I'm going to be sick." Patricia coughed gagging mostly from the smell, but also at watching living tissue being created and put together on an assembly line. All of this just seemed so wrong, like a horrible violation of nature.

"Let's just get what we need and get out of here." John said, moving over to the large table where the floating tentacle pods were placing the brain jars. He grabbed one in each arm. Patricia followed, grabbing two as well. They then went back to the control room and began connecting them. It was relatively simple, there were pins on the base of the jars that plugged into a socket on the shelves in the control room.

They looked at each other. Four of the brains didn't calm things down much, and there were still several empty slots.

"I think we have to keep bringing them until there are no more empty slots." Patricia said as she moved back toward the door. John nodded and followed. They made as many trips as they needed until they had filled all the empty slots. As they did, slowly the ship stabilized. Finally they filled the last four slots, and Roddy's voice came back over the intercom, this time much clearer and less struggled.

"Oh.. that is so much better. What's going on out there?" He asked.

"We heard you talking over the speaker. You went all zombie on us and got a craving for brains so we found out where they were being made and plugged them into the ship." John replied.

"That really did the trick. It's so much easier to ignore the thoughts of the ship now, and all of the functions work when I want them to. Those psychic batteries sure did the trick."

"Bright eyes.. How do you feel? Because out here you don't look too good. It's like you're in a coma, but at least your nose isn't bleeding anymore. For a second there I was worried that thing had fried your brain." Patricia asked.

"Well.. honestly I don't feel anything. It's a really strange feeling. I don't feel hot, or cold, or weight or even myself. I just see darkness and hear a lot of thoughts. Everything is like a thought passing through my mind, and I either want it to happen, or don't want it to happen, and it does which ever I choose. For a minute it was a real struggle to get them to do what I wanted, but now they seem more than happy to listen."

"That's.. ok.. The ship isn't rocking around like it's about to fall out of the sky, so for now it looks like you have things under control." John replied.

"It's not ok. Listen guys, we have a big problem. This ship is as alive as we are, and it is the most wicked and evil thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. If I could feel I would have chills right now." Roddy explained over the intercom.

Chapter 10

"I'm a new day rising. I'm a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight. I'm a little divided, do I stay or run away and leave it all behind. It's times like these you learn to live again..."

What do you mean the ship is alive and it's evil?" Patricia asked confused.

"I don't know exactly, but it is somehow. It's very very old. Millions of years old. It's really hard to force any information out of it's thoughts. It doesn't seem to like answering my questions. From what I got out of it so far it was made by some dark master force that opposes all life. The only way I can describe it is like, well it was made by some sort of disembodied evil god like thing that opposes the idea of there being life at all in general. It was made to destroy all life in the entire universe. It is very angry and impatient that it has been passed down from owner to owner for so long and not been aloud to serve the purpose it's masters made it for. It wants very very badly break free from my control and begin it's mission of destroying every last living thing that exists." Roddy explained.

"It's very full of hate anger and frustration.." Roddy continued. "It can't stand being controlled by what it calls peon warlords who don't understand the nature of it's real purpose. In fact all this genetic lab stuff was retrofitted by the creature we just killed. None of it was here originally. This ship was made with one purpose in mind and somehow it was subdued and taken control of before it could fulfill that purpose. It's been passed down from owner to owner over the eons while it grew angrier and more full of hate, rage and frustration. It can't stand that each person who has controlled it just used it for pathetic small time personal gains instead of what it was designed for. Which as I said is to literally destroy the entire universe. Then move on to another universe, and then another, and another and just go on forever destroying every living thing that exists in any time, any reality, any dimension, anywhere period."

"And we're all living things, so that's not a good thing for us." John grumbled.

"So what do we do then? Can't we take it really far away from the planet and then blow it up?" Patricia asked.

"That's the problem." Roddy began.

"I was wrong about it destroying the planet if it explodes. This thing is drawing massive amounts of energy out of the inner dimensional void, and off of the fabric of space time itself. If it explodes it's not going to just destroy the planet. It's going to destroy the entire galaxy. Sure we could take it out into the middle of empty deep space and blow it up. But we would never get far enough away in time. We would be blown up with it. Even if we did somehow, we would be stuck in empty deep space. We would never get back to this planet. We would just die out there." Roddy explained in a distressed tone.

"So what do you suggest we do?" John asked.

"I don't know.. I'm.. all out of ideas. I think.. I am going to just have to destroy the ship with me in it.. You guys need to go.. I'm not going to let this thing run around destroying the universe.. and Don't know any way to safely destroy it without me being here to make sure it destroys itself." Roddy replied.

Patricia grabbed John and hugged him. "This isn't fair. Just when I thought we had beat this thing.. we end up FUCKED!" She whimpered in a distressed tone, and buried her face into her shoulder. He put his arms around her and just held her for a moment comforting her.

"Don't worry Patricia. We will figure something out. I'm not going to let this thing beat us. I'm not going to let it destroy all the life in the universe." John assured her.

"Roddy you can just forget about going down with this ship. That is not going to happen. I will snatch that thing off of your head myself before I let you do that. Now that you have control of the ship what can you do? I mean, how much control do you have?" John asked looking up at Roddy who was still laying there with his eyes rolled back in his head looking catatonic. It was a strange feeling to be looking at someone who appeared to be in a coma, and hearing them reply over an intercom.

"Well.. pretty much everything.. Now that I have enough of those psychic batteries helping my mind be stronger than the ship's mind.. I have access to what ever I want except it's inner most thoughts, Honestly those are all too dark and evil for me to even want to look into. It's inner mind is like.. well it's like all the hate and evil in the entire universe packed into one personality." Roddy answered.

"Ok.. what about this hyperspace thing you talk about all of the time? How does that work?" John then asked, starting to get an idea, but before he came out with it he wanted to understand weather or not it would work.

"Well.. it's pretty complicated. I just understand enough to work on the physical drives. Basically you disassociate your ship with normal space time. You sort of slip outside of reality as we know it for a brief moment, and then when you return you associate yourself with the space time location that you want to end up at. It's like for a split second you literally cease to exist, and then return to existence where you want to be located. At least that's the kindergarten basics of it." Roddy explained.

"Ok.. and this thing has one of these hyperspace drives?" John then asked.

"Yeah.. of course it does." Roddy answered over the intercom.

Patricia looked up from John's shoulder. "John.. what are you thinking? Are you about to suggest that we take this thing into hyperspace and then just leave it there? How would we get out?"

"Well.. yeah, but Roddy is the one who knows the details. Could we do that? You said that when something is in hyperspace it literally don't exist until it returns to normal space right? Couldn't we send this thing into hyperspace with no destination, and bail out at the last second leaving it stranded in a state of non existence in hyperspace?"

They could hear Roddy sigh over the intercom. "That is a great plan. It really is, and I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. You can't just enter hyperspace without a predefined destination to exit at." He explained. "It's just part of the way the mathematics of how the drive works. All the of the equations have to be answered otherwise the drive won't even start."

"Ok.. So what if we set everything up for the ship to send itself out to a safe part of space, and then self destruct, then we all bail out just before it jumps hyperspace?" Patricia asked, thinking quick trying to adapt the plan.

"I don't know.. Maybe. I'm only worried that once I disconnect myself from the ship it will be free to do what ever it wants. It may not self destruct. Or maybe not even jump to an empty part of space. I really don't know what it will do. I know that right now it's subdued, like it was when the other creature was in control and it take it a little bit to wake back up. What I don't know is if it will even listen to a self destruct command. At least not without me still connected and forcing it to happen. It's starting to look like I have to go down with the ship.. I really don't know.. Let me look around in here and see just what I can do." Roddy replied.

John shook his head. "NO! I told you that is not an option. So just forget it." He said sternly

Patricia pulled back from John, and looked into his eyes. She then suddenly kissed him strongly on the lips, then pulled away almost shyly.

"I'm sorry.. I just don't want to die without at least getting to kiss you first." She whispered.

John smiles and pulled Patricia close. "It's ok. Truth is I've wished you would do that since I first laid eyes on you. You really are an amazing pig." He whispered back leaning in for another kiss.

Patricia didn't hesitate. She pulled her arms around John tightly and kissed him with all the passion that she had been holding back from the years she was dating boring old Herman. He had never kissed her like this. Patricia felt her skin tingle and her hair stand up. It was like electricity on her lips. Her heart raced, and for a moment she forgot where she was. She breathed John in just existing in the passion of the first REAL kiss she has had in years.

"Hey guys I just noticed something... Guys? Oh really? Come on, we're on the edge of universal destruction and you two are making out?" Roddy began, and ended in frusteration when he realised they weren't listening to him at all. Patricia and John were in their own hyperspace that began with a single kiss.

"Yeah, sure take your time.. I'll wait. It's not like the whole universe is about to be destroyed or anything." He grumbled over the intercom.

Patricia and John didn't even hear him.

"You two get a gawd damned room!" Roddy shouted shaking the ship.

John and Patricia finally disconnected themselves from each others lips with an embarrassed mutual smile.

"Sorry dude. If all life as we know it is about to end I'm going to kiss this girl like I mean it before it does." John smirked.  
"And boy did you ever." Patricia grinned fingering his chest.

"Yeah, right.. Good to know your priorities. Listen.. I'm getting another life signal on the ship. Your people wouldn't send someone else in here would they?" Roddy asked.

John shook his head. "No. to tell you the truth my team was the best of the best. That's why we were sent to secure your crash site, and it's why we were sent here. I don't know of anyone else they would have to send in... OH! By the way since you are all omnipotent now.. Can you tell if Samuel and the others made it out ok?" He ended with a question.

"Their life signatures are not on the ship. That's really all I can tell you. I hope that doesn't mean they are all dead, and that's why the answer I'm getting is that they aren't here. But listen another life signal just popped into my thoughts. It's in one of the genetic manufacturing rooms. Let me see if I can get a screen with a map up for you guys." Roddy said. Moments later a panel in the floor opened and a screen slid up showing a map with a location marker blinking on it.

"I am guessing we should go check that out?" John noted.

"And go armed?" Patricia added.

"That would be nice, since I'm kind of all tied up at the moment." Roddy said through the intercom.

John and Patricia let go of one another, and picked up their rifles. "Yeah, we might want to look into that." Patricia nodded.

"Yeah in the mean time how about you keep looking at what you can do with this ship." John added.

"Hey I'm not the one necking when we're all about to die." Roddy replied.

"Come on lover boy. Let's go before captain gets mad and court martials us both." Patricia teased batting at John's shoulder before walking toward the door.

He smiled taking one last look at the map before following Patricia towards the door. The map was pretty straight forward. It was an isometric view of the local area of the ship layout with a grid separating the different floors. They had to make their way back to the lift, and go back up a few floors to get to the room that they were heading toward. They paused at the door.

"I really hope this isn't some monster that the ship made to kill us all." Patricia remarked with hesitation.

"I don't think Roddy would let it do that. He really is a stand up guy. You were right in trusting him. You have pretty good impressions of people." John said reassuring her.

"Well, being a prison guard for eleven years you learn to pick out which ones are just having a run of bad luck, from the ones who are really bad guys and need to be in there. He never struck me as a bad guy." She replied hesitating to open the door.

John punched the door control. "We just have to make sure he doesn't decide to throw us out, and then take the ship off somewhere safe and blow it up without even trying to get out first. I can tell he's the kind of guy who would do something like that. I'm worried that's what he plans to do if we can't figure something else out. He deserves to get out of this too." He then said with a hint of remorse.

Patricia didn't reply, instead she readied her weapon as the door opened to another genetics lab. John moved up close beside her, but there was nothing inside aside from those floating tentacle worker pods just milling around doing pretty much nothing. In this room were larger tanks filled with that translucent pink tissue material. There were several tanks packed against the wall. They were all dark except one which was lit up. At it's base was a blinking purple light. Inside was a silhouette of something that honestly looked a lot like Roddy except it had a figure like Barbara.

"Roddy! Can you hear us? We found it, and it's something that was created in one of these genetic labs." John called.

There was a pause.

"Yeah, I hear you. Damn this is so weird. Something manufactured in the labs? It's not a monster is it?" He asked.

"Oh no.. From what we can see right now it's something pretty sexy." Patricia mused. "And it looks just like you. Hey you said that this thing was collecting your kind. You didn't create yourself a perfect girlfriend did you? Because that would totally be cheating." Patricia chuckled.

She walked into the room approaching the tank that held the amalgam that Roddy had accidentally manufactured from the saved amalgam genetic blueprints the previous owner of the ship had collected.

"Girlfriend? What are you talking about?" Roddy came over the intercom.

John and Patricia moved closer to the tank. It was most definitely the same thing Roddy was. But she was pretty well built. At least as far as Patricia could tell. Of course women are much better at sizing up other women than men are.

"Roddy.. You said all these biology labs was added by the thing we blasted. And he had some thing he wanted out of your species that he was abducting your kind for?" John asked.

"Yeah. Apparently a couple thousand years before my species were engineered to be manufactured laborers, we were just little furry lizards. From what he described we were intended to be the most perfect pet with the bonus of being able to shape shift. Except from what he said people figured out how to exploit the technology and hack it. People were programming their amalgams to turn into weapons and war ships instead of toys and games like they were meant to. He described it as a biological matter converter. He was trying to isolate that technology to weaponize it on a large scale." Roddy explained.

He suddenly realized just how little the previous controller of this ship actually knew. He had a much more powerful weapon than anything he could learn from ancestral amalgams and didn't even know it. Or maybe a closer truth was that he knew full well what this ship was and what it was capable of and he knew that he couldn't control it. Perhaps the creature knew that if he ever let the ship begin to use it's natural weapon it would never stop, and he didn't want to destroy everything otherwise what would he rule over? A vast emptiness, that is no ruler at all.

"Bright eyes. Do you think he kept records of the genetic make up of all the amalgams he captured?" Patricia asked as she looked through the murky liquid at the amalgam floating in the tube.

"If he was running a long term research project I'm sure he did." Roddy replied.

"Well I think you accidentally resurrected one of them." John replied.

"You're kidding? Hold on let me see If I can open the tank." Roddy said excitedly.

Moments later the liquid in the tank began to drain. Then the probes that were holding the amalgam released letting her fall limp slumping down in the bottom of the cylindrical tank. Not long after the outer glass shell of the tank began to lift.

Patricia was ready, and as the female amalgam fell out of the manufacturing tank as it lifted away Patricia caught her. She could feel the amalgam struggling to breathe her first breaths of real air. Patricia leaned her over and patted her back roughly to help the liquid come out of her lungs. The amalgam coughed spewing out the last bit of the fluid in her lungs, and she gasp for her first breaths.

The amalgam's main color was a light almost rose petal pink. She had clusters of aqua colored, randomly sized and shaped blotches that ran down the top of her head and down her back. Halfway down her tail transitioned to aqua, giving it a slight band of lavender where the two fur colors mixed. She was busty and curvy but in a healthy way

Patricia sat her up as she opened her eyes. They were like Roddy's eyes except a pale aqua green, like a tropical ocean, deep and clear and sparkling.

"Oh that is so not fair. She has amazing eyes too. Why can't I have eyes that look like theirs." She groaned.

"I think your eyes are beautiful." John commented.

Patricia looked at him and smiled. She helped the amalgam girl stand up. She seemed really confused, but then who wouldn't be in her situation.

"Roddy are you seeing this? It's amazing, you just made another living thing. That technically means she's your daughter." Patricia called.

"I wish I could. But there doesn't appear to be any video devices in that room. And technically I didn't create her, the ship did, so she's the ship's daughter, if you want to look at it that way."

"You just don't want her to be your daughter so that you can date her." John chuckled.

"I don't want to date her. I don't even know her." Roddy replied.

"Oh.. I think you will when you see her." Patricia smiled.

"You two... Stop teasing me.. Otherwise I'll blow the ship up right here with all of us in it." Roddy joked.

"Ok ok.. We'll stop. But right now we need to explain to her what's going on. She looks really scared and confused." John replied.

"Well there isn't really an amalgam language, but most people out there speak a language called common. Let me see if she knows it." Roddy said.

"Hello there. Do you speak common?" He asked.

"Y.. yes.. Who are you? You're not the one that was controlling the ship earlier. What's going on?" The amalgam asked in a weak voice.

"My name is Rodrick. I am in control of this ship now, don't be scared, none of us want to hurt you. The evil slime ball that was hunting amalgams is dead. We smoked him good. Do you have a name?" He asked.

"Name? It's Julia, Julia Fairborn... How did you find me? How long have I been asleep?" She asked.

"Well.. I don't want to scare you.. But you weren't asleep.. You were melted down in the creature's experiments.. I recreated you from your genetic blueprints that were stored in the ship's memory. Honestly it was kind of an accident, it happened when I was playing around trying to learn how everything works. But, you're alive and ok now right?"

"I.. I think so.. I feel fine just a little weak and confused." She replied as she stood trying to cover herself.

"That's good.. Well these two are my friends. You can trust them. They are going to bring you to the control room. I need to ask you if there is anything you know about this ship that we don't. See.. we want to destroy it. But we can't figure out how to do that without either destroying the galaxy along with it, or leaving us stranded out in the middle of nowhere." Roddy explained. "They don't speak common, so I'll have to translate back and forth."

"That's fine. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help. I'm just an engineer but I will do what I can." She nodded.

"Wow, an engineer, you mean amalgams were actually aloud to have technical jobs back then?" Roddy asked.

"What do you mean were aloud to? Aren't amalgams free to do what ever they want in this time?" She asked with a shocked tone.

"Well yeah.. But there aren't many of them left out there. To be honest I have actually never seen one." Roddy replied, forgetting to mention that he was an amalgam too, or maybe he assumed that she knew.

"Roddy is there any way that you can get this poor girl some clothes? I'm sure she doesn't want to walk around completely naked." Patricia asked breaking into their conversation.

"Oh.. right, yes I'm sure she would appreciate that. I'll see what I can do. I should probably do that before you bring her to the control room. It might be a little embarrassing for her otherwise. Let me see if I can get one of these tentacle drones to go down to the puppet room and bring up one of those canvas suits." He said.

John just turned around and looked away while one of the robotic tentacle drones floated out of the room and went on it's way to collect one of the puppet suits. It took a few minutes but it finally returned. It dropped the suit in the middle of the room, and Patricia went over and picked it up. She brought it to Julia.

"Here sweetheart, put this on. I know no one wants to walk around naked like some sort of primitive animal." She comforted as she handed her the suit.

Julia put it on. It didn't fit her figure very well, but at least it was covering her. The three of them went back to the control room. When they walked in Julia was shocked to see the scene. There was a broken life support jar with a bloody amalgam in armor slumped down against it with the control ring on his head. He wasn't very conscious, apparently just controlling the ship was taking up all of his brain power to the point where his mind was lost inside the control construct of the ship and couldn't even control his own body. The previous creature didn't seem to have that problem.

"Holy shit! You're an amalgam!" Julia gasped. "You're a mess.. How did you manage to take control of the ship? Were you captured too? How did you escape? You must be military trained, or some kind of warrior to have done that. Wow, that's amazing. None of the other amalgams that I know of ever escaped, let alone were able to take over the ship." Julia questioned with an impressed tone.

"It's a long story, but I had help from my friends here. So you're an engineer? We have to destroy this ship. It's alive, and it's thoroughly evil. If I disconnect myself then it will take on it's own will and begin destroying the whole universe. We can't let it do that. But we kind of want to get out of this alive too." Roddy explained giving her the cliff notes.

"So what do you think Roddy?" Patricia asked.

"I think I need to figure out how to translate the Common we are speaking so everyone understands one another. Let me see what I can do about that." He said, knowing that wasn't what Patricia meant. He was intentionally dodging the real meaning of her question.

"Yeah, that would be great if you could do that." John then added.

"You guys should think about learning common. It would come in handy if you ever meet any other aliens." Roddy commented.

"Actually that might be a smart thing to do in light of recent events." John replied.

"Don't leave me in the dark. What are you all talking about?" Julia said, feeling left out.

"I was just telling them that I am trying to set up some sort of translation method so we all understand each other. This isn't exactly the type of ship controls I'm used to.. So you will have to be a little patient." Roddy explained to Julia in common language.

"I think I am going to have to be the translator. But from what I can tell.. I need to want, a synthesized voice to repeat everything Julia says in the language I know that you understand. And vice versa I think I have it all set up. How you control this ship is so strange. It's like trying to talk a five year old into cleaning their room." Roddy explained.

"Julia, say something for me would you?" Roddy requested.

"Ok.. well.. My name is Julia Fairborn. I was hatched in 3324 universal calender, and I was a hyperspace engineer until I was captured by this ship." She explained.

A few moments later a synthesized voice repeated in the language they understood.

"Wait you were born in 3324? That is over five hundred years ago!" Roddy gaps.

"You're a hyperspace engineer? Roddy! That's exactly what we were talking about. Blowing this thing up in hyperspace where it won't destroy anything." Patricia noted.

A few moments later the same robotic voice translated Patricia's words into common.

"Wait, wait.. Go back to the five hundred years ago part!" Julia exclaimed. "Do you mean that I have been dead for five hundred years?" She asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry.." Roddy said. "I had no idea..I know it has to be a shock to you." He comforted.

"No you wait, You go back to the hyperspace engineer part." Patricia broke in. "You know more about that stuff than Roddy does then. Is there actually a way that we can send this thing into hyperspace without setting a normal space end location?" She asked, and waited for the translation.

"Well.. yeah.. I mean there are security locks that usually keeps something from just jumping into hyperspace without an exit location because it would be torn apart at the atomic level just from being in hyperspace. But there are ways to confuse the system.. Sure." Julia explained. Moments later the translation came over the intercom.

"So we can send this thing into hyperspace, tell it to self destruct, and all bail out at the last minute before it actually goes into hyperspace to blow up?" Patricia asked.

"I don't see why not." Julia replied.

"I see why not! This ship is a living thing with a mind of it's own. It doesn't work like a computer that you give a list of commands to, tell it to do them and then walk away while it does them. It's like riding a wild animal. You have to be controlling it the entire time otherwise it will ignore what you want it to do and go off and do what it wants to do. And it wants to destroy the universe." Roddy explained.

"Oh.. I didn't realize that.. Then it looks like we do have a problem. Unless someone goes down with the ship making sure it does self destruct... It probably won't. Living things have a sense of self preservation. Maybe you should reconsider going down with the ship." Julia offered.

When Patricia heard the translation of that, she got mad. "No! Not just no but HELL NO!" She growled. "There is no way Roddy is going to die with this ship! He saved you. He saved all of us! He brought you back to life. How could you just suggest something like that with no heart at all?! As if he doesn't matter as long as the rest of us live. NO! HELL NO!. It's going to be ALL of us or NONE of us!" She raged

Julia looked scared and took a few steps away from Patricia. Then when her words were translated she knew what the body language and tone of voice meant.

"No.. Wait, I didn't mean it that way.. I was just saying.. We need some sort of sacrifice to keep the ship listening to our commands while we get out. I wasn't.." She began.

Patricia cut her off. "I know exactly what you were saying!"

"Everyone calm down!" John snapped. "Roddy this ship has all sorts of biological manufacturing stuff in it. Why can't you make a bigger brain like the ones in the jars that will control the ship?" He then offered.

There was a pause.

"I never thought of that... Maybe I could. The way this things works, I don't really have to understand what I'm doing.. I just have to want it to be done and the ship figures out all the details."

"Then why can't we do that? Manufacture some sort of clone brain type thing that just wants the ship to go into hyperspace and then blow itself up? Then we connect it to the control thing, and we get the hell out?" John asked.

"Hell it's worth a shot." Roddy answered.

Meanwhile Patricia was giving Julia the evil eye for even suggesting that Roddy should sacrifice himself to save everyone else. After all that would be the easy solution. But it was a solution that she would just not let happen. She would pull that control ring off Roddy's head herself before he even considered going down with this ship. She knew John would too.

"Yeah, it looks like I can do this by combining some of the blueprints from the brain batteries, and some from the puppet things. They are sort of programmed when they are formed to have a single purpose and that is all they think about. So what I need to do is make a really big brain battery that has the attributes of the way the puppet's mind works, and that should do the trick." Roddy explained as he focused on wanting that to be done so that she ship would get to work doing it.

"Roddy... I have to ask. It's been a long time since I was alive. And you seem pretty well trained. But you have actually never seen another amalgam? What military were you in?" Julia questioned.

"What? No, I'm not military. I grew up in a colony orphanage in the labyrinth nebula. I just learned to be tough to survive. I crashed on this planet trying to get away from that septic tank, and this thing followed me here." He explained.

"The labyrinth nebula!? You mean you're some piece of trash from the labyrinth nebula?" Julia replied in a shocked tone. "I thought you were something special. Some sort of colonial mercenary or soldier, not some nebula looser. Everyone knows that nothing good ever came out of that place. I can't believe that for a moment there you actually impressed me!." She growled.

Hearing the translation of what Julia just said made Patricia's blood boil. She stepped over to Julia grabbing her by the collar with both hands getting ready to throw her to the floor.

"You salty little bitch, you did not just say that about my friend." She growled. "Roddy isn't some piece of trash! And I am not going to stand here and let you talk about him like that. You had better apologize before I pound your pretty little face in!"

John grabbed Patricia's arm, and pulled at her. "Patricia don't. Come on we don't need to do this right now. Let her go." He requested.

Patricia looked over at him and shook her head. "NO! This girl is an arrogant little shit. Roddy brought her back to life. She should be thanking him. Roddy is trying to save every living thing in the universe. If we didn't stand in his way he would fly this ship right into the middle of nowhere and blow it up with him in it. That's what he wanted to do and we talked him down. He is kind, and noble, and selfless, and I am not going to listen to this little brat talk about him that way." She growled.

"I know.. Patricia I agree with you, but we don't have time for this. Roddy doesn't need us fighting like this. He needs us to work together. And this stuck up little shit isn't worth it. Don't waste your time on her. Come on Patricia.. let it go." John begged.

Patricia shoved Julia away from her looking at her with that cold stare. "You better watch yourself miss priss." She scowled.

Julia looked down and away with a scared and embarrassed expression. "I'm sorry ok.. It's just that people from the labyrinth nebula don't typically have very good reputations. If we had ever been there you would know that." She explained sheepishly.

"Well.. Roddy isn't like that. So you just check yourself, before you get yourself wrecked." Patricia scowled.

John pulled her away to the other side of the room. "Come on Patricia.. We need you to focus. Don't let this girl get to you ok?"

She looked at him trying to calm herself. "Ok.. I know.. I just.. She shouldn't be saying.."

"I know.. It was the wrong thing for her to say but we're all in this together. Come on Patricia, don't let the stress get to you." John cut in trying to calm her.

Patricia looked into his eyes and that was all she needed. She just hugged him close putting her cheek against his chest nodding.

"Guys, I think I have something here. I have been thinking about everything everyone said and I came up with an idea. It's finished in the genetic manufacturing room. Don't be alarmed though, I kind of had to throw some stuff together to get this to work. I need you to go bring it here so we can attach the control ring to it's head. I just have one concern, that as soon as we do it's going to immediately jump the ship into hyperspace to self destruct and not give us time to get out." Roddy finally came over the intercom.

"Wait.. then what is the point if we won't have time to get out once we do this?" Julia scoffed.

"Roddy.. She does have a point. How are we going to get out then?" Patricia asked.

"It is going to take the ship a few minutes to start to wake up and find it's own will once the control ring comes off of me. That is why you are going to bring the sacrifice here to the control room, and then take the control ring off of me, then get the hell out as fast as you can. I will do the rest." He explained.

"Wait.. No that wasn't the plan. We are all getting out together." John protested.

"I'm sorry.. It doesn't work that way john. Someone still has to stay behind to put the control ring on this thing's head. You have to just trust me on this. I think I have it figured out." Roddy replied.

Patricia went over to the motionless body of Roddy and knelt down hugging him. "Bright eyes.. you have to promise me that I'm going to see you again." She begged as she hugged his neck pushing her cheek against his.

"My little friend piglet. You have been so sweet to me since I came here. This is the only way that I can thank you. I have been doing some digging while you were arguing.. I have a plan. I'm not trying to blow myself up. Just trust me." His soft voice came over the intercom.

"No you can thank me by getting out of this alive." Patricia protested.

"I intend to. Trust me." Roddy replied. "Now go get the controller I created and bring it here." He said.

Patricia kissed his cheek before letting go. She couldn't believe what was happening in her life right now. She wanted excitement and danger and love. She had no idea she would get it like this. One huge adventure that completely took her outside of the life and world she knew. She wanted the danger to be over, but she never wanted the new friends she found to end. John was so amazing, a strong man with such a hero's heart, and Roddy, so selfless, and caring despite not having anyone to care about him. But Patricia did, and maybe that was why he was doing all this. Sometimes all it takes is for one person to care to bring out the best in someone.

Patricia stood up. "Ok Bright eyes. We'll do it." She said, then walked back over to John. She hugged him and kissed his lips one more time just in case. Then she looked at the new amalgam Julia. Even she looked worried. Maybe that was because she didn't want to die again. Or maybe she was starting to see what an amazing group these three were.

"Julia.. could you stay with Roddy? I think he really needs someone who's his own kind right now." Patricia said quietly.

The fact was Julia was horribly embarrassed by the things she said, and she saw how completely wrong she was. She knew the reputation of the labyrinth nebula and those who lived there so how could she not assume? However sometimes the apple falls very far from the tree, and she was starting to see that Roddy was that far fallen apple who never let that place get to him, never let it corrupt him, and never compromised on his moral compass. She saw that Patricia was right.

Julia nodded. "I'll stay here." Was all she said in a quiet voice.

John nodded his head to Patricia and the left the room to go about their mission. Julia just stood in the middle of the room clutching herself with an ashamed expression on her face. Roddy let her soak in it. Just for a moment though. The things she said did hurt him. Yet he didn't blame her. He grew up in that hell of a place, and it has been the same way for many hundreds of years. It's reputation was what it was, and it was obvious Julia was from a time when Amalgams were flourishing, and respected possibly even new. So he let her stew, just a little while before he finally spoke up.

"I really don't blame you. I understand why you said what you said. I would have said the same thing." His comforting voice came over the intercom.

Julia wasn't sure weather to look at him, or around the room. All of this was so confusing. To her, life ended in a nightmare of being stripped and dumped in a tank of liquid, then drowning. Now she was waking up with this amalgam in control of the ship she was once a prisoner on with grand plans to destroy it. Over five hundred years later? So much time. She was all alone. Everyone she knew is dead either from normal age, if not other things. She was just as lost and confused as the rest of them.

"No.. that girl Patricia was right. It was wrong of me to assume. I was wrong about you." She began.

"I grew up there. I would have assumed and then stuck to my story. I know what that place is like and what kind of people live there. I didn't take any offense by what you said. I would have said the same thing." Roddy chuckled over the intercom.

"So... you really have never seen another amalgam... ever? In your entire life?" She asked trying to deflect the conversation.

"Nope, never. I was always the only one." He replied.

"Oh.. That's so sad. When I was alive amalgams were every where." Julia said softly.

"Well... I may not have seen many other amalgams, but I think your fur is beautiful." Roddy complimented.

Julia looked down and smiled shyly. "That's sweet of you. You're a little too covered in blood for me to tell. How about you look me up when all this is over and you've had a really long shower?" She sort of chuckled.

"Oh.. I see how it is. You're high maintenance." Roddy teased.

"Hey. No! I was dead just a few minutes ago. Why does everyone assume I'm so stuck up? I'm not."

"So you're saying that you would go out on a date with a lowly orphan from the labyrinth nebula?" Roddy asked quickly.

Julia gave a pause. "Well.. from what I can tell.. you're more of a hero from the labyrinth nebula, than a lowly orphan. It's not too often someone gets to save the entire universe."

"I promise I won't let it go to my head." Roddy replied with a chuckle. "The honest truth is I'm a musician, and all I want to do is be appreciated for that. I never expected all this to happen. Thought I guess none of us did right?"

Julia chuckled. "A musician. Wow. This is the kind of thing stories are written about. The dreamer musician saves the universe." She joked.

"Hey don't laugh.. it looks like this time it actually happened," Roddy replied jokingly.

They both laughed for a moment before that familiar slurping sound announced the opening of the door.

Patricia and John were dragging in a very grotesque mixture of an amalgam and the original creature controlling the ship into the room. It was the same fur color as Roddy, with patches missing a bulging cranium and tentacles coming off it's chin mostly but also from other random areas of it's body.

"Roddy what is this thing? It's horrible." Patricia gasped.

"Yeah... sorry about that. I didn't think I could rely on the puppet blueprint. I had to make sure that this thing would do what I need it to do. But I also needed it to have the brain power of the other alien controlling the ship. So I just mixed myself with one of the brain batteries. I know what I would do, and this thing is going to do what I would do because it is mostly a clone of me." Roddy explained.

"What ever works man. But this thing is dead weight. I doesn't even seem alive." John noted as he and Patricia dropped the abomination on the floor.

"Yeah It's dormant. It needs an electrical shock to wake up. Then it will do everything. It will take the control ring off of my head, and put it on it's head. Then I can get out. All I need you to do is get one of these metal tentacle drones hit it with an electrical shock then get the hell out of here." Roddy explained

"Roddy are you sure you have all this figured out?" Patricia asked concerned.

"Piglet... You have been so sweet to me. Do you think I would do this if I didn't think it would work? I want to see you again, and John. He's an awesome guy. We should have a few beers together when all this is over. You two should start dating too.. Hey I don't want to impose but could you put Julia up for a little while? Just don't kill each other. Oh listen to me I'm rambling." Roddy said jumping from one thing to another.

"Roddy are you sure you're ok?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I am just tired is all." He replied. "Fighting this ship is taking a lot out of me.. So I need you guys to figure out how you're going to get out, and get ready to so it."

"Well the Razorback's original plan was to parachute down." John. Said.

"Well we are above the city. If your equipment is still at your entry point there were six of you that should be enough parachutes. I'll open the door for you now while I still have control." Roddy said.

"John.. I've never done that before. I don't know how to use a parachute. And what about Julia, and Roddy? Do they know how to use one?" Patricia questioned.

"I don't know. It's not rocket science though, you just pull the cord and hold on. Besides if you're scared I can just buckle you to me and we'll jump tandem." He assured her.

"Parachute? That's a cloth gondola that unfolds from a pack either on your chest or back correct? I have actually done that before." Julia answered.

"Great, then it's all set. I'll wait until I no longer feel your life signals on the ship and then I'll light this thing up like the grand finale at the state fair." Roddy said. "You should all get going. I'm getting tired, and I want to do this before my mind gives out."

The three of them looked at one another and nodded. "Come on I think I remember the way." John said dropping his weapons, and walking toward the door. They didn't need those horrible things anymore, and honestly Zootopia didn't need that type of technology either.

They made their way back to the elevator lift, and took it up to the surface levels where they began. As they made their way back to the evacuation point John collected the dog tags of his fallen Razorback comrades. Samuel hadn't done that, of course that wasn't his duty. It was the job of the ranking officer to collect the dog tags from the guys who didn't make it.

Once in the room where they had originally come in, they saw that Samuel had left a rope ladder hanging from the opening in the ship which was above their heads.

"Patricia, we need to take this armor off. Between the two of us there's enough weight already, and this stuff is going to make us over the weight limit." John explained

Patricia nodded and began removing the armor. It was essentially the same process as putting it on though in reverse. While they were removing their armor, Julia began putting on one of the parachute harnesses. Once They had their armor off, John began helping Patricia put on her harness, explaining her what straps went where and which to buckle together.

"I'll strap you to me once we get outside, then we all jump on my mark. Just hold onto me as tight as you can." He said reassuring Patricia.

"Don't worry.. I will. And no jokes about when pigs fly.." She nodded.

They climbed up the rope ladder and stood on the outside of the ship. John began connecting Patricia's harness to his.

"Ok, walk with me. We need to get as close to the edge as we can. It's round so it's going to feel like you're going to fall, but don't worry, that's what we're trying to do." He said as he began walking backwards pulling Patricia with him until they were close enough to the edge that he could just jump backwards off of the ship.

"John... I'm scared of heights.." Patricia whimpered quietly looking over his shoulder out into the darkness of the night sky. She could see all the lights of Zootopia shining under them like stars on the ground.

"Just close your eyes and when I say jump you jump ok? I'll do the rest." John comforted.

"You two are taking too long. I'm ready to catch some air!" Julia said, and then suddenly ran past them leaping off the edge. This time they didn't have anything translating so they had no idea what she said. But they did understand her excited scream as she dove off. "Whoooohoooo!"

As it turns out Julia is a little of an adrenaline junkie when not being stuck in a lab being a nerdy scientist. She enjoyed rock climbing and sky diving. This was nothing new to her. She was one of the lucky amalgams that had the luxury of growing up on a planet where they were accepted as equal class citizens.

"Julia! You idiot! We were going to all jump together!" John growled watching Julia dive over the side like this was some sort of game.

"John let's just go." Patricia said.

"Right, listen when I say jump I'm going to jump backwards, you need to jump forward into me so we're not opposing each other. Are you ready?"

Patricia nodded.

"Ok.. One... Two... Three... JUMP!" He counted down, and then they jumped. Patricia held on to him like an octopus with her arms and legs gripped tightly around him as he spread out controlling their fall. He made the mental countdown, then pulled the ripcord. The chute opened and snatched them out of their free fall.

"Patricia.. It's ok.. You can open your eyes now." He assured her.

Patricia shook her head as she pressed it against John's shoulder. "I don't want to.." She protested.

"Patricia, we're perfectly safe. I've done this hundreds of times. Just relax and look around. It's really beautiful up here.. Alone just us, together in the night sky. Stars above us. City lights below.." John explained softly.

Patricia slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes. It was dark all around them except all the twinking lights. John was right. It was so beautiful, romantic even. She only wanted to look into his eyes though. They were strong, and self assured, yet when he looked at her there was a loving softness. She squeezed him tighter. "John.. Are we.. .falling in love?" She asked quietly. "Or.. is it just that thing where dangerous situations bring people together?"

"Which would you rather it be?" He asked

"Love..." Patricia answered before leaning in to kiss him. They kissed as they drifted in the night sky surrounded by all the lights.

However the moment was interrupted by a crackling and electric flicker. They both looked up as the dark shadow of the ship began to glow and ark electricity like a Tesla coil. It began to grow a bright corona around it as the electrical arks began to stream further out from it. As the corona grew they could see the view of the sky and stars around the ship begin to distort as if they were looking at them through some sort of fun house mirror, or poorly focused lens. Then with a loud sudden snap like the cracking of a lightning strike the corona imploded in on itself pulling the ship into hyperspace. In that instant snap the ship was gone, disappeared as if it had never been there.

"He did it.. It's gone.." John smiled.

"But John.. where is he? I don't see another parachute anywhere, except Julia and she's below us.." Patricia questioned with a scared concern in her voice.

"Just give it a minute maybe he hasn't opened it yet." John assured her. But another parachute never opened above them. Patricia waited for it. She waited all the way to the ground as she fell on top of John who took the force of their landing in the empty city streets.

Zootopia was a city that never sleeps, and normally these streets in the city center would be packed with traffic day and night. On this night however there was no one except police cars patrolling. Even after John had unbuckled Patricia from his own harness she wouldn't stop staring up into the sky, hoping to see some shadow, or light casting on a parachute. That just didn't happen though.

She felt the hot tears running down her cheeks. Where was bright eyes? After all this planning, all this that they went through.. How could he not make it out with the rest of them. That was the plan, what went wrong?

John went to her and put his arms around her as she broke down and sobbed. He held her as her tears soaked his chest. All of the held back emotions from the ordeal rushing out. She was tired, he knew she was. She had been fighting so hard since this entire thing began, and now she didn't have the strength left to keep being strong. She couldn't hold back. Now she didn't need to. It was over, and it was ok to cry. It was ok to let it all out, and to let herself just fall into John's strong arms. It was ok to be sad. It was ok to be scared, and to need someone. It was ok to learn to love again.

Credits.

For TOKDL who inspired my interest in this character I have named Patricia. The prison guard pig from Zootopia who the story is about. I hope every one had fun following my sometimes crazy adventure of this interesting secondary background character who deserves to be more.

Chapter Caption Lyrics.

Chapter 1. Don Felder – Heavy Metal

Chapter 2. The Black Crows – Stop Kicking my heart around

Chapter 3. Blue Oyster Cult – Take Me Away

Chapter 4. Credence Clearwater Revival – Run Through the Jungle

Chapter 5. Beasty Boys – Sabatoge

Chapter 6. Puscifer – Conditions of my Parole

Chapter 7. 30 Seconds to Mars – Edge of the Earth

Chapter 8. Institute – Bulletproof Skin

Chapter 9. Blue Oyster Cult – Flaming Telepaths

Chapter 10. Foo Fighters – Times Like These

Epilogue

Foo Fighters – My Hero. "Don't the best of them bleed it out. While the rest of them peter out. Truth or consequence say it aloud. Use that evidence race it around. There goes my hero. Watch him as he goes. There goes my hero. He's ordinary."

It had been close to two weeks since their ordeal. Patricia was getting back to her routine, she had taken some time off to rest, and reflect on everything that had happened. She had been having nightmares, but she was starting to get over it. Harvey, the employee counselor had referenced her to a good therapist, and the sessions were going well. She would be going back to work tomorrow. After everything she had been through on the ship, being a prison guard seemed easy. Almost relaxing. She had began seeing John regularly. They decided to take things slow, since they both wanted to be sure this was the right thing for them. So far it felt right. He had even offered to see if he could get her into the special operations academy so that she could become a Razorback. She turned it down of course. Seeing what he did every day made her quite satisfied with being a boring prison guard. She felt like she finally had enough excitement for a little while.

Julia was learning their language rather quickly, but Patricia couldn't wait until Julia was gainfully employed and moved out. It wasn't so much that she didn't like the idea of Julia sponging off of her for a while. They just didn't seem to get along, even when they were both trying to. Julia was a little of a know it all, and way too much of a neat freak, which Patricia was certainly not. At least the apartment stayed clean, but Patricia was a little embarrassed about another woman picking up her dirty socks and underwear. It just felt wrong for some reason. Her therapist suggested that part of why Patricia was having trouble dealing with her being around was that she reminded him of Roddy.

She knew that he had a point. It wasn't that Julia was a bad person, or even hard to get along with. Other than being a complete genius by their standards, she was just a normal girl, like any other girl in their late twenties. The honest truth is that the hardest thing for Patricia to accept was that Roddy was gone. After two weeks and he never showed up she had began to come to grips with the idea that something in his plan must have gone wrong, and he didn't make it out. At least it was obvious that what ever happened he was successful in destroying that horrible living space ship because it never came back. At least not yet. She had a feeling that if it wasn't destroyed this planet would be first on it's list to destroy because of revenge motivations. Since apparently it did seem to have those types of feelings from what Roddy described about it, and it hadn't come back, it was save to say that Roddy sent it back to what ever hell it was spawned from.

Barbara and Julia actually hit it off pretty well. It turns out that they both have similar hobby interests, and they go to the gym together twice a week. Also Julia was a really good cook, so Patricia hadn't been eating take out for the past few weeks. In a way it was nice to have her own cook, and someone there to talk to when she got home. It didn't take Zootopia long to get back to normal. Even though repairs at the prison weren't complete yet. Patricia would have a temporary position at one of the other prisons until her usual one opened back up. She was actually pretty happy about getting back to her normal routine. Sitting around the house all day helping Julia learn English was starting to get really boring. Of course she knew her life would never be totally normal again. Especially since now everyone in Zootopia knew who she was. She was a hero, a celebrity, and there was no where she could go without someone recognizing her. It was fun at first, being on the news, telling her story to everyone, and feeling all the praise and admiration. Now she just wanted to be Patricia again, not Patricia the hero of Zootopia who saved the entire planet. She knew that eventually things would get back to normal.

Judy Hopps and Nick even came by her apartment to congratulate her. They didn't have such a bad conversation this time, not like the little argument they had in the locker room before. It was nice to talk to someone who understood what she was going through with the new celebrity status. Judy assured her that things would go back to normal. The same thing happened to her when she cracked the night howler case. Now that a year or so had gone by it's almost like everyone forgot about what a hero she was, and she was able to get back to normal life.

Nick got a real kick out of Julia. He made a big deal about trying to figure out weather she was a predator or a prey. Of course Julia didn't even understand why it made a difference, and Nick couldn't understand why Julia thought it didn't apply to her. She tried to explain that she was created, and that she didn't evolve naturally from any specific animal. She told him that she was a mixture of a lot of things, and some of the things were originally prey animals, some were predators, and some didn't really fit either category. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around it. But mostly it was a novelty to meet a real live alien, as long as it was a nice one.

Over all it was a nice visit, they didn't have to come see her. Patricia was finding that a lot of the people she worked with were giving her a lot more attention lately. Her apartment was filled with flowers, and appreciation baskets. Mayor Swinton even gave her the key to the city. It was really more of a trophy than anything but it looked pretty impressive sitting on the mantle. It felt nice and at the same time it was a little embarrassing being the center of attention all the time. Even if it was good attention. She just didn't want all this to go to her head, or change who she was inside. She wanted to be the same Patricia she had always been. She couldn't wait to get back to being herself. One thing's for sure, she wouldn't have any trouble with the prisoners for a while. Now that she had the reputation of being an alien slaying tough girl. Of course she always was a tough girl, and she always would be.

Later that evening John, Samuel and Barbara came over for dinner. Julia made shrimp scampi clam linguine and crab cakes. It was a nice quiet dinner where they could all just talk. They opened a bottle of wine after dinner and sat in the den just talking.

"They're assigning us to a new team." Samuel began. "Guess who is first in command?" He playfully punched John's shoulder. "This guy!"

"Oh, that's nice, so I guess you were promoted?" Patricia said sipping her wine. "This calls for a toast." She added raising her glass.

"I didn't make toast.." Julia said confused.

"No sweetie, different kind of toast. It's like a celebratory tradition." Barbara chuckled.

Patricia stood up as everyone raised their glasses.

"To my sweetheart John, who saved the universe, won my heart, and is a really amazing kisser." She smiled.

"And to my BFF... AND E Patricia, who's why too modest sometimes." Barbara added.

Julia raised her glass, starting to understand what they were doing. "To Roddy, His selfless act and teaching me not to judge someone because of where they are from." She added.

Patrica looked down quietly for a moment. She still felt like crying every time she thought about Roddy. They were always bitter sweet. Sad because he's gone, but at the same time so proud and appreciative for what he sacrificed to save people he didn't even know, and who hadn't really treated him so well.

"To Roddy." John repeated quietly, and went over to hug Patricia. She put her arms around him.

"It will be ok.. The pain goes away.. it just takes time." He whispered to her.

Barbara went over and put her arms around Patricia also. "Don't cry sweetheart. Just remember the good parts."

Patricia choked, and her eyes got just a little teared up. "I didn't know him long, but I wish I had gotten more time to. He could have been a good friend. I hate that he can't be here enjoying this moment with us." Patricia whimpered softly.

Patricia pulled away from John and Barbara and wiped her eyes. At least this time she didn't start full out sobbing like she had been doing for a solid week. She sipped her wine.

"I think I would have liked him a lot.. He seemed a good person." Julia added.

"Come on guys, don't make me sad.. We're supposed to be celebrating." Patricia sniffled a little.

They agreed to change the topic, and went on to talk about happier things, until that bottle of wine disappeared. They laughed and talked and for a moment things were happy. Then the hour was growing late, and at least most of them had more pressing things to do in the morning than hang around the apartment watching language videos and reading. After Patricia had shown everyone out and said her good byes she actually went to sleep in her bed instead of sleeping on the love seat, or in her recliner. For the most part the bed was just too big and empty for her. Most nights it reminded her of being alone. But tonight that big four posted bed with the curtains she could draw was just the solitude she wanted.

The next day she got up at the usual time, took her shower and ate a bagel like she usually did before work. She went in and everyone seemed so happy to see her. She was happy to be getting back to normal. However she didn't really expect to be let off of her duties just because of what she went through. She still wanted to be treated the same as always. But the attention was actually kind of nice. So just like she did when she was so heart broken over Herman she focused on her work. She didn't even have to go out for lunch. Julia has packed her up some leftovers from last night to heat up in the microwave in the officer's lounge. She sat eating not even paying attention to the television set and breaking news about something that had fallen in the city center.

There was a small distortion in the sky, and a crackling of electric whips before a loud pop. As the distortion and electricity imploded into a bright flash a small chrome colored egg shaped object fell out of the sky hitting the city streets and bouncing before skidding to a rest. It was a bluish chrome, smooth outside with a few blinking lights. It wasn't the same design as that eldritch evil ship at all. It was steaming but not from being hot, but rather very cold. A thin layer of frost began to form on it's surface as air condensate froze on it's outer skin. From inside there was a loud thudding. By now patrolling ZPD officers who were in the area had surrounded the object with their weapons drawn. The thudding grew louder and then a round panel on the side of the escape pod was kicked off and a very tired, still bloody dark blue furred lizard fell out onto the road.

"Freeze right there! Hands up!"

"Don't make any sudden moves, you're under arrest!"

The officers ordered.

Roddy groaned. "Ohh fuck me running. Here we go with this shit again!"

They moved in, as Roddy just put his hands up and didn't resist. They put him in cuffs, and threw him into the back of a squad car to be taken off to processing. By now you would think he was used to this. Hell of a way to treat someone who just saved the entire known universe though. He was too tired to put up a fight or protest. He just let them arrest him as he reflected on what happened after he was sure John, Patricia and Julia were safely off the ship.

After Patricia and the others left the ship everything changed. A little whisper in his mind frightened him and he had to adapt his plan. That meant being attached to the control ring a lot longer than expected. But those robotic tentacle drones came in handy for doing the actual physical preparations.

Originally he was going to swap places with the sacrificial clone make sure the ship went into hyperspace and started it's self destruct sequence and then get into one of the ship's escape pods and get out. Then when he felt that the ship wasn't opposed to that idea he realized that the ship wanted him to do just that for some reason. It took some digging but he finally got deep enough in the ship's mind to understand why.

It's own escape pods, were not just throw away life boats. They were like larvae. They were like baby eldritches. It didn't really have a name but that was the only word he could use for it. Weird, and sinister, ghostly, and demonic. Just uncanny and abnormal and evil in every way, eldritch. If he took one of its escape pods like he had originally planned, the escape pod would in time grow into a duplicate of the ship. That is why he hesitated.

It may take longer than his or any of his friend's life times for the eldritch larva to mature. However eventually someone somewhere in time would have to deal with this horrible abomination again if he let that happen. Roddy didn't want that either. He didn't want to just pass the problem along. He wanted to put an end to it once and for all. So he had to take the ship away from this galaxy that Zootopia was in, and then find a different escape pod somewhere on the ship that was retrofitted later. One that still had hyperspace capabilities to get him back home to his friends. Back home to Patricia who believed in him even though he didn't understand why. Back home to John who trusted him just because Patricia did. Even Julia who needed to see what it was like to not live such a champagne and silverware life for a change.

However it looks like he kind of botched the time part of the space time mathematics. Of course as far as hyperspace math goes, a little off can mean thousands of years. So since Zootopia was even still here he was satisfied that he hit the mark pretty well. He just hoped he hadn't landed before he crashed originally, and before he met Patricia. He hoped he wasn't about to create some sort of weird time paradox where there were two of him walking around.

After lunch they would usually bring in new arrests. Patricia was at her usual post in the hall just outside the main cell block. Different prison, same job description. She heard the buzzer and the door leading to the processing block opened and she saw a line of prisoners shuffle in. They didn't say much, though some of them gave her shocked or excited looks as they passed. By now her face had been on the news so much that people she had never even met knew who she was. She watched them shuffle by toward their assigned cells. She sighed and looked down remembering that this is exactly how she first saw Roddy. She looked back up as the last one went by, and did a double take.

"No.. it couldn't be.." She whispered to herself seeing just the back of his head, that unmistakable blue fur, and purple stripes outlined in a thin tracing of yellow. That's when he lifted his head and coyly looked back at her and smiled. "Hey Piglet.."

"Bright eyes!" She squealed as her face light up like the sun, and she couldn't help herself. She completely broke all the rules and ran hugging Roddy's neck almost knocking him over, forcing him to spin around, holding onto her so they both didn't end up in a pile on the floor.

"What happened?! It's been almost three weeks! We all thought you were dead!" She exclaimed. The prisoners stopped and turned watching them with amusement.

"Ok everyone to your cells, nothing to see here! You too spaceman! In your cell now!" One of the other guards had moved in to reclaim order.

Patricia stopped herself, and let go, straightened her uniform and cleared her throat. "Ok you heard the man everyone to your cells." She repeated regaining composure.

Roddy just shook his head and moved on to his cell as Patricia followed. "Don't worry. We'll get you out of this. John and I promised you that we wouldn't let them do this to you again. We keep our promises." She assured him as she softly shut the cell bars.

Roddy at least had the cell to himself this time. He plopped down on the bottom bunk laying back and folding his arms behind his head. "I haven't slept since we got vacuumed up. I think I'll take a nap." He said in worry free tone. At least they let him take a shower and gave him a new set of clothes before they locked him up. Honestly orange didn't look bad on him.

Patricia smiled at him through the bars. She was so excited she almost couldn't control herself. But she knew that she had to. She went back to her post. No sooner than she took her position, the buzzer went off, and the door opened again. This time it wasn't prisoners. First two panthers dressed in suits, with dark sunglasses and earpieces came in, then they were followed by Mayor Swinton.

"Guard, I am aware you have one Mr Rodrick Tull in your possession?" She said to the head guard on the block in a serious tone.

"Madam Swinton! What brings you here? I mean.. Yes! prisoner Number 226404.. Rodrick Tull, he was booked just a few hours ago for escaping on his previous charges of starting the Tujunga fire. He is in cell 06." He answered.

One of the panthers was carrying a leather briefcase. He opened it and offered it to the Mayor who pulled a stack of papers off the top.

Patricia grinned watching, she knew what was about to happen, and she had a feeling that John and Samuel had something to do with it.

"I have here all the official paperwork signed by myself, Chief Bogo, as well as Warden Victor for a full pardon on all charges being brought up on Mr. Tull. I would appreciate it if you would kindly take me to him." She explained showing the documents to the head guard.

"Y-yes ma'am.. Right away.." The guard said in a nervous tone and lead the way. The mayor took a few steps then turned.

"Officer Wilbur would you care to join me?" She said looking back over her shoulder smiling at Patricia.

"Yes Ma'am. I certainly would." She grinned as the left her post to follow.

Roddy looked up from his bed to see the rather well dressed, and made up pig looking at him with a smile.

"Mr Bright Eyes I presume? A few of my Razorbacks have had some very impressive things to say about you. I had to meet you in person." She said with a sly tone.

Roddy sat up. "And you are?" He asked.

"Oh yes how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mayor Swinton, and I have come to get you out of here. After all prison is no place for a hero." She replied.

Roddy got up. "You know it's about time someone finally started seeing things my way. But with all due respect Ma'am. Patricia is the only one aloud to call me Bright Eyes."

The mayor gave a little chuckle. "Oh, yes, of course. My mistake Mr. Tull." She smiled, then turned to Patricia. "Officer Wilbur would you kindly open the door to cell 06?" She asked.

Patricia grinned reaching down for her keys. "It would be my pleasure Ma'am." she said in a pleased tone as she unlocked the cell bars.

In the following months Patricia had gotten used to having two new roommates. It was fun havng Roddy around. John had given him his old electric guitar that had been sitting around collecting dust since he was in high school. She didn't know John even played. He didn't anymore or so he would say. Roddy sure could, and not just those hard chunky metal riffs, though that seemed to be what he preferred. One afternoon she walked in and caught him playing the sweetest slow soft love song to Julia who was completely focused. It was pleasant having music in the air most afternoons. She did love playing music to relax, and Roddy was always eager to show off his technical skills on the fretboard by playing Patricia something soft and soothing when she had a stressful day.

He had met some guys at Goaty McGruffs one night while he was playing solo for tips and they hit it off. They got together one afternoon and on the spur of the moment formed a band called "Hiss". They hadn't been noticed by any major record labels yet, but they were playing all over town. When Patricia and the group went out to watch one of Roddy's sets she noticed a lot of the same faces. So he was slowly gaining fans and underground popularity, so it wouldn't be long before his band went mainstream.

Julia had started going to college and taking aptitude and IQ tests. The Mayor had pulled some strings and gotten her an entry level job working at the Mammal Institute of Technology. It was a good start and opportunity to show how smart she really was. Besides any job working at MIT was a pretty good career. She would often brag about making more money than Roddy. But he would always say he was having more fun. Patricia would add that Julia needs to wait until he cuts a record deal then see who makes more money.

Patricia honestly didn't even want them to move out anymore, but they did need a bigger apartment. Though she had to admit it was really cute when she came out of her room at night and saw them tangled up with their tails twisted together trying to both fit on the love seat. Julia sleeping on top of Roddy like a pile of kittens.

In the afternoons when Patricia came home to rest her feet, she had to admit, she was finally happy. She couldn't think of anything she would change if she could do it all over again.

The End.


End file.
